


Tell You My Sins

by Sgt_Pepperony94



Series: New Memories, New Life [2]
Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Eventual Romance, Mild Angst, Multi, Murder, Smut, Swearing, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-06 15:58:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4227978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sgt_Pepperony94/pseuds/Sgt_Pepperony94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A murder in Broadchurch forces Miller and Hardy back to working together, but the case is only the first problem they have to solve on top of their kids on the verge of self-destruction and work out their own feelings for each other. M for mature content.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Tell You My Sins  
> Author: Sgt. Pepperony  
> Fandom: Broadchurch  
> Rating: T (heavily mature content; some trigger warnings apply; there is smut in later chapters)  
> Pairing: Alec/Ellie (eventual)  
> Disclaimer: As far as I am aware, I do not own Broadchurch or the characters. All property belongs to Chris Chibnall. OCs are mine. 
> 
> So while I do tend to do more fluff because I like characters to be happy.  
> But yep. We are killing people in this story. This does involve some triggers that I can alert you to at the start of that chapter though no real depictions will be seen. New chapters will be posted on Sundays.

It seemed like a normal Thursday, as they all are in the few hours before a call saying someone had found a dead body had been found. Then again, Danny Latimer was an anomaly within the Broadchurch area. Every day was practically normal save that day in July 2013. 

This day in September 2014 was practically déjà vu for Ellie Miller, except the body was in a field, was a teenager and a girl. 

"You alright Ma'am?" one of the uniformed officers asked as Ellie crossed the police barrier. 

"Yeah, just dead kids. Why is it when there is a murder in this town it is a child?" 

"I know. Poor kid." 

"Brian, what do we have?" 

"Young girl, probably fourteen or fifteen, the young farmer there thinks he ran her over with his tractor but he should have seen her before driving over her. Pathology is going to have a job on his hands," Brian explained. "She's missing her top but not her trousers or underwear. Could be sexually motivated." 

"Oh Christ. Okay, try to get as much evidence and get her to the morgue as carefully as possibly. I'll go and talk to the farmer." The farmer looked young and in shock. Probably the first dead body he had seen, or at least a dead human body. "You okay?" 

"Ye...Yeah," he stuttered.

"What's your name?" 

"Elton. Mum's a fan if you could guess. Did I kill her?" 

"We need to have a closer look but it's more than likely you didn't kill her. Do you know the girl?" 

"No."

"Okay Elton, just run me through how you found the body." 

"I got up really late, I went out last night so I was hungover. I jumped in the tractor and drove if as fast as I could until I hit something. Thought it was a rabbit or sheep."

Ellie nodded, "Did you touch the body?"

"No."

"Good at least we can rule you out." 

"You think it was murder?"

"No confirmation yet. We'll call if we have any more questions." 

-o-

"I want someone to call the school, check the year nine and ten groups for any absent girls, with dark brown hair," Ellie ordered one of the DCs, Carl Brennan. "Anything from Missing Persons?" 

"Nothing matching the victim's description ma'am. I'll get right on the school." 

"Good, come to me when you have something. Make sure nothing gets out to the press until the family has been informed." 

"DI Miller, I have a question," another DC, Leona Starzweska, spoke. Leona was new to the team, only started a week ago. "What if this is a murder?" 

"This your first murder?" The younger woman nodded. "It's not going to be easy and there is not much satisfaction when they get caught or even if they are found guilty. This is all about getting justice for the family." 

"This is only your third. Well two and a half but still. Does murder really change you?" 

"Leona, any murder can change a person but in this case it's a child. A person who has not led their life yet because someone took it from them too soon." 

“Are they going to call in more people? I mean we’re not exactly the most experienced of police forces." 

"I imagine so." 

"Ma'am," Brennan pipes up suddenly. "The school have confirmed that they have a girl, white, dark brown hair, in year nine who has been AWOL all day. Mum hasn't called in to say she would be absent. Name is Molly Carlisle." 

-o-

Informing the family was the worst part, as it always is. Molly Carlisle was the youngest of three. Cal Carlisle was an adult while Eva Carlisle was seventeen and nearing university. The parents were divorced, but were on good terms. They just fell out of love. It happens.

It's Cal who comes to identify the body, nearly breaking down in sobs at the state of his little sister. 

"How did she..." 

"We don't know yet," Ellie answers. 

"You are going to find whoever did this right?" 

"We will." 

Somewhere Alec Hardy's words on not to trust anyone weighed heavily on Ellie's mind. Then her own words to young Leona played into it. Danny Latimer's murder had taught her that much.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: description of autopsy results.

Chapter One

_"Murder hits the small town of Broadchurch tonight. A body of a fourteen year old girl was found in a farm just outside the town. Police are treating the death as suspicious and the family has been informed."_

The news blared around town, sending a ripple among the community. Second murder in about fourteen months and it's another minor.

They are quick to rule out Joe Miller. Reverend Coates has his friend in Sheffield confirm that the man has not left the city since he arrived over six months ago. Changed his name apparently. Probably a good thing. Ellie did not do anything wrong so why she should change her name.

Tom is quick to give Ellie a hug the second she comes home. While he is morphing into a typical teenage boy, just shy of his thirteenth birthday, he knew that this had to be difficult. Fred, growing like a weed at the same alarming rate as his brother, is more than happy playing with his toys. Ignorance is bliss when you're two and a half.

"You don't think..." Tom could barely finish the question, though Ellie knew what her son was getting at.

"No. Still in Sheffield. Even if he is an utter shit, I don't think he is stupid enough to come back here and commit another murder."

She had said those words exactly to Beth Latimer on the way home. She had been on her way into the station, worried that Joe had gone and hurt another child because of the stupid jury, when Ellie walked out. This was just stirring up old wounds from before.

"Are the family okay?" he asks.

"In bits. Probably will be worse once pathology gets some results. Listen, you don't have to worry. It's unlikely that this is a serial killer."

"You really hope it is don't you?"

"I think everyone hopes it is."

Later Fred is asleep and Tom is in his room. Ellie is left to ponder. A part of her thinks she should disturb Hardy (mainly to seek advice more than anything) but the day had been too long and it was too late to drive all the way to his place. Not that they spoke much since the trial due to working is separate police stations. Mostly they spoke if they bumped into each other by chance on the street or in the shop. Even then it was just a brief 'how are you' rather than a long conversation.

Hardy still lived in the town, taking residence in the cottage he had bundled Claire Ripley into before her arrest for perverting the course of justice and assistance in a murder (pleading guilty to both). He took the commute to Woodhaven, which was only twenty one miles now he could drive. Not that he didn't try to leave, but his ever concerned and darling daughter had practically dragged him back to Broadchurch about two weeks later. Poor bloke was henpecked to say the least.

Suddenly, her phone rang making her jump. She thinks it is pathology but groans when she sees Hardy's caller ID.

"Hardy, it's half nine," she exclaimed.

" _Just checking you're alright Miller, I saw the news_."

"I didn't cry at the crime scene if that is what you are implying."

_"How is the family?"_

"Um... Older brother identified the body. Everyone else was too afraid to see her but he needed to make sure that we were right."

_"My CS called. Sending me into Broadchurch CID to help out. You've not got the resources apparently."_

"Not so much the resources but it is mostly a new team. My DS is also out of town until Monday and a lot of my DCs have not done a murder investigation before."

_"They were talking about bringing some detectives down from Sandbrook."_

"Judging by how you said it, I assume Tess is involved. Still she'll probably bring Daisy down with her."

_"Well I have her this weekend, which means I won't have to travel miles just to get to the station."_

"For the time being. You are not stealing my job again." At that point, her phone beeped indicating another person trying to call her. "It's pathology. They might have finished their examination."

_"Do you want me to come with?"_

"No, I'll be fine. Just try to get some rest. Don't want you scaring off my new recruits with your bad temper. I'll just call Oliver to keep an eye on the boys."

The cheeky sod almost tricks her into giving him an exclusive on the case so far but he knows as much as the national press does at the moment or anyone at the moment. She goes to the pathology lab where James Lovegood's replacement Jane Lincoln briefs Ellie on the results.

"It wasn't easy separating what was caused by the killer and what was caused by the tractor, but it looks as though she was beaten on the head to death with a circular object – my guess is a hammer. Time of death looks to be between three and five this morning."

"Anything else, she was found without a top?" Ellie asked.

"Nothing to suggest that she was sexually assaulted before she died. Unfortunately she was also eight weeks pregnant." She held back on throwing up. "I know. Her toxicology showed signs of ketamine in her system though it looked to have been in her system for a few hours before she died, nothing else to report other than that."

-o-

The next day, Ellie was in full battle mode.

First thing was to brief the arrivals from Sandbrook and Woodhaven. As predicted Tess is there but Ellie is pleasant, "Daisy come down with you?"

"No she's coming down later on the train. She's staying at Alec's while I am staying at that hotel opposite to the Echo."

"Like the weirdest family holiday ever."

"Wouldn't call it a holiday if I have to work."

They enter the CID room, which Ellie had not seen more busy. This was the second time she had briefed a murder investigation to a bunch of people.

Hardy knew Ellie was not joking when she said they were a young team. The two DCs by the board looked as though they had only just graduated from school. Both fresh-faced, wide-eyed and determined. Probably a good thing to have fresh eyes but they lack experience and a murder can make or break someone especially if it is their first case as a detective.

He then looks over at Ellie. While he had seen her around but it only struck him now how different she looked from the last time he had properly spoke to her face-to-face. Hair a little longer, eyes look a little overworked what with being a DI and bringing up two boys single-handed. She looks well though.

The board Brennan and Leona prepared has the details of what is now called Operation Milton; the pair are at least two friendly faces in the group. Another face that was familiar, though Ellie debated whether she'd call it friendly. Alec Hardy was clean shaven, hair not as floppy and in his eyes, suit that looked as though it had actually been ironed. He looked too weird without the scruff. The most noticeable difference was his eyes. They looked less baggy and more alive.

"Molly Carlisle, fourteen. Found around half eight yesterday morning, looks to have been killed by multiple blows to the head. Mother is a nurse who was working the night shift at A&E the night Molly was killed. Dad returned from a business meeting in Birmingham yesterday morning. I would suggest interviewing her brother and sister to see if they know more. No known relationships though she was pregnant. She was also under the influence of ketamine at the time and had been for a few hours. Find out who her friends were, see if she met them that night. Everybody got that?"

The team looked horrified at what had happened to the girl but all murmured in agreement and get to work. The parents' alibis are solid. So it was really a case of finding out where Molly had went that night and how the older Carlisle children had not noticed their little sister was missing from her bed.

Tess interviews Cal first.

"So with your mother at work and your father out of town, you were the responsible adult for both Eva and Molly?"

"Yes."

"So what happened on the night of the seventeenth?"

"I checked to see if she was in bed around ten. Mum said that she had a strict bedtime. Molly was in the room at ten. I went to bed half hour later and she must have snuck out after that."

"Was Eva in the house?"

"She was at a friend's house."

"Which friend?"

"Stacey Jones. They both go to the same college."

Brennan talks to Eva, who pretty much confirms what her brother had said. Her friend backs up her story.

"It looks like the family is clear," says Tess as she makes a cup of tea, Hardy beside her. "You picking Daisy up later or am I?"

"It's my weekend with her so I'm getting her from the station."

"Fair enough."

"She staying at your mother's while you are here?"

"No, Dave said he would take on the duty during the week. Though I imagine she will have worked out a way to drive him out the house by the end of next week. No thanks to you."

"What did I do?"

"Oh I don't know. Maybe calling him Dave the Tosser or making other snide comments about him when she is around."

"Not like he doesn't deserve it. I mean he did sleep with my ex-wife while I was still married to her."

"Okay, if we're going to work on this case together then we are not going to let that get in the way."

"I wasn't. I was just making a point that I you expect me to be civil to Dave."

"I never said civil. I just meant to tone it down when your daughter is around." Hardy's phone rang at that second.

"It's Murray."

"You sent her laptop to Murray?"

"Miller did. He is the best I know at computer forensics and we need all we can get if we are going to solve this case. I have to go to the school. Get a larger picture of Molly, speaking to her teachers and see who her friends were, who she did not get on with, see how she was the last few days."

"Are you going to the press conference later?"

"Yep. The joy begins." He answered the phone just before the call was cut, "Sorry. I was talking for Tess. What do you have?"

_"I've sent it to your e-mail lad but I'll give you the cliff-notes. It looks as though your victim had a secret love. Email's sent back and forth between her and an anonymous address."_

"Murray, I owe you a drink at some point."

_"Ye being saying that for years. Give my best to Daisy."_

-o-

"Molly Carlisle? She's a lively girl. Very chatty," the teacher, Ms Foster explained. "Drama was her favourite subject if that tells you anything."

"Was she ever troublesome?" asked Ellie.

"Last year she went through the report system. Her parents had just gotten the divorce so she was acting out. Nothing really unusual, just giving teachers cheek."

"So how had she been the last few days?"

"Um… she seemed quite withdrawn actually. If it was bullying then it probably was done through social media. It's something that the school has had to deal with over the last few years."

"Has Molly ever been bullied physically?" Hardy asked.

"Like I said she was a lively girl, and if she were being bullied signs would have been there. I saw nothing in the school yard."

"Did she have a boyfriend or ex-boyfriend?" Ellie asked, Molly's pregnancy on her mind.

"Not that I am aware of. I'm just her teacher. If she did then Lilly Barnes – her best friend – would probably know."

Back in the car, Ellie taps her finger on the wheel in thought, "You know, I think she may have just found out she was pregnant so that is why she was behaving unusually."

"You think?"

"Fourteen year old girl finds out she is pregnant. Ask Daisy how she would feel."

"I think I would rather have another heart attack than think about becoming a grandfather at my age. Until the phone is found, I think you might be right but looking through the e-mails Murray uncovered, she did look to have a secret relationship or she was at least infatuated with someone. Do you think whoever got her pregnant killed her?"

"It's a possibility. Almost certainly. Christ, now I have to tell the family how Molly died and what the pathologist found."

"Need me to come?"

"If you want but isn't Daisy's train coming in soon?"

"Not for a couple of hours. You can drop me back at the station when we're done."

"You coming to the press conference?"

"I kind of have to Miller. Though I think you are doing most of the talking. Shouldn't be a problem."

-o-

Hardy stands by his car following informing the Carlisles on how their daughter had been murdered. It wasn't until they were told that Molly had been pregnant that they broke down in horror.

The press conference was due to start at seven so he would have to leave Daisy with the Latimers for a couple of hours, and let her catch up with Chloe. She was sixteen but given that a teenage girl had just been murdered, he was taking no risk leaving her on her own. Thankfully she had made friends with Chloe during that summer, and it had been good for the two of them. Chloe felt her former friends were stepping on egg shells around her following her brother's death and Daisy didn't know anybody her own age in the town.

Daisy emerges from within the station and he tries to give a happy smile but Molly had plagued his mind a little. Still Daisy was smiling brightly.

"I know Mum is down here but you could try and look happy," she jokes as she gives him a hug.

"It's not your mum believe or not. Though she did tell me off for making comments about Dave in front of you."

"Not your fault she is dating a tosser. Well, it might have helped if you didn't leave but bit late now."

"Listen, I have to go to a press conference in an hour so I will drop you at Chloe's."

"Is this about the body they found yesterday?"

"How do you know?"

"Mum gets sent down to Broadchurch and it is very unlikely that it involves armed robbery. Also, I follow the Broadchurch Echo on Twitter."

"Bloody Twitter. I swear that nephew of Miller's would not be able to cope if the phone lines were down and 3G or whatever it is now didn't exist."

"Quite fit though."

"Also nearly fifteen years older than you." Hardy was just about to get into the car when he saw Karen White emerge from the station. "Oh you have to be kidding."

"Nice to see you too DI Hardy," she replies. Daisy just looks confused. "I take it I will be seeing you at the conference later."

"Just make sure you don't sensationalise anything. Fair warning, this case is more sensitive than it looks."

"Isn't any murder of a minor?" She goes in the opposite direction as Hardy gets into the car.

"Friend of yours I take it," Daisy commented.

"I wouldn't say a friend."

"I was being sarcastic."

-o-

"She's getting so big," Daisy observed as she takes a hold of Lizzie.

"She's becoming a little madam that's what she is," Beth comments, her mind somewhat elsewhere before going into the kitchen.

"Is your mum alright?" Daisy asks Chloe.

"I think she just cannot believe this is has happened to another family."

The press conference comes up on the twenty-four hour news, which is surprising given the little coverage that Danny's murder initially got on the national front. Then Mark recalls Karen White telling him that because Danny was a boy, it wasn't really the right profile. This death ticked all the boxes: young girl, white, pretty, family reasonably well-off.

_"Yesterday, the body a young girl was found in a field just outside the town. The girl has since been identified as Molly Carlisle."_

"I think I know her from school. I was her mentor when she started Year Seven," Chloe says.

_"Molly was last seen by her family at around ten the evening of the seventeenth of September. We suspected she died between three and five yesterday morning and the family have been informed of the circumstances surrounding her death. She had been hit in the head with an object at force. We are treating this as a murder enquiry. We are looking for people who may have seen Molly between 10pm and 5am Wednesday night. If you interacted with her then we need to know. We are looking for anyone who might have supplied ketamine to Molly in particular. As well, we are looking for someone who had been communicated with her in secret over the last two months. Those are the two main people of interest at this moment. We also urge people to be careful as we are not sure if this is a part of a string of murders or a start of a string of murders. We are hoping this is an isolate incident. If you see anyone acting suspiciously then inform the police immediately."_


	3. Chapter Two

 

Chapter Two

The next day, Hardy finds himself interviewing Lilly Barnes, Molly's best friend, with her mother present. He senses a nervous edge but it's justified since her best friend had been killed.

"Can you talk us through the last time you saw Molly for the camera Lilly?" he asked gently.

"It was at school on Wednesday. We had just finished biology, last lesson of the day and we went to a café to chat. After that we went home."

"What did you talk about?"

"Um… Boys, various other things. Complain about some teachers."

"Did she have a boyfriend that you were aware of?"

"Yeah. I don't know his name though. She kept him a secret for some reason. I think she may have been making him up."

"I see. How did Molly seem the last few days? Was she acting out of character?"

"Monday she was quiet. I don't know why. I guess she just woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day because she was fine on Tuesday."

"Did she ever confide in you about anything personal?"

"You mean the baby? No. I found out on the news. I don't know why she didn't tell me. I'm her best friend."

In CID, Leona was being tasked with scanning through the CCTV that had been supplied by local businesses. On fast forward, she catches Molly walking through the town on at least three of them so far, noting the time stamps as she spots Molly. So far it is only Molly.

Brennan has been tasked with starting a timeline to give a clear picture of Molly's last movements. He's got a large map of the town and got post-it notes of the times and events based on the statements and CCTV footage. Once it is down then perhaps a reconstruction could take place.

"We don't have much to go on here but some people coming out of the Traders say they saw a teenage girl walking past at around closing time," Tess says looking at the notes from the door-to-door enquiries that morning.

"Chucking out time is around twelve," Brennan puts it down on the post-it before sticking it on the map.

While Tess, Brennan and Leona are working on the timeline, Brian goes over the findings of the crime scene with Ellie, "It looked to have been a deposition site rather than where she was murdered. There was blood leading down to the bottom of the hill where it just hits the road."

"So, she is whacked over the head, killed and then dumped in the middle of a field?"

"Looks to be that way. If there was a struggle then there would have been more of a disturbance in the grass. Probably driven there. I'm guessing her top was taken to make it look like a sexual assault gone wrong."

"Thanks Brian that tells us a lot. Suppose I'd better tell the team. Everyone, listen. It looks like Molly was killed in a different location to the one she was found. Has CCTV picked anything up?"

"Not yet. She just seems to be wandering the streets at the moment," Leona answered.

"So far she's picked up on the corner of the main road just around the corner from where she lived at around 10:23, so she left the house around 10:22," Tess begins. "She's seen at midnight and that is as far as we have gotten."

"So what was she doing for ninety minutes?" asked Ellie.

"That is what I am trying to find out. Mostly it has been walking so far. Probably to meet someone," Leona answered.

"Right keep going."

The next week has little progress. Hardy has been in and out what with Daisy staying at his on the Saturday and Sunday. Ellie managed to stop herself before she forgot the existence of her two boys. Tess only goes back to her hotel for a shower, sleep and to call her daughter. Brennan and Leona only go to their homes for those reasons as well though Leona does it more frequently than Brennan.

There is a couple of people – late night dog walkers – who say that they spotted Molly between half ten and twelve. Unfortunately she is alone.

Leona realised she is missing a significant piece of CCTV footage that leaves a large gap between Molly leaving one road and arriving on the next. It is only a two minute walk between the roads. Molly took at least fifteen minutes. The time stamps show 10:45 when she arrived at that road, and then is seen in the next road at eleven.

"She must have been talking to the person who gave her the ketamine," she concluded by Wednesday evening.

"I don't think it takes fifteen minutes to negotiate a drug deal," Brennan points out.

"How would you know?"

"I've done surveillance on drug dealers. It is usually only a few seconds so suspicion doesn't get aroused."

"I'll go round and nag the petrol station tomorrow morning. I'm too knackered. Plus I should have been out of work hours ago. Some of us have responsibilities out of this station you know. Not that finding a killer isn't a responsibility."

"So, Miller and Hardy? What do you reckon?"

"Sorry?"

"Do you think they are shagging?"

"Dunno. I wouldn't blame her though. Even if he is a little too skinny."

"I take it you are talking about DI Hardy. Just so you know he wasn't always hairy," Tess announced her presence as she headed for the kitchen.

"Weren't you two married?" Brennan asked.

"For nearly fourteen years."

"You put up with him for fourteen years?" asked Leona almost amused at the idea of Hardy playing happy families. "Took you that long?"

"No offence Starzweska but I don't think my marriage to my ex-husband is of any concern to you. He is still the father of my daughter and he is a damn good detective."

"Okay, sorry. So, how did you two meet?"

"Through work. I was a DC for GMP, he was a DS having moved from Edinburgh Constabulary. First case together was a death of a child due to domestic abuse."

"How romantic," Brennan comments dryly.

"It took him a year to ask me on a date. As you pointed out, child abuse is not something that makes a girl drops her knickers. Look, it's getting late. You should both head home to your partners or kids if you have any. Do you have kids?"

"I have a toddler, Phoebe," Leona answered.

"I haven't got the time or energy that you guys possess for kids."

"Weakling."

-o-

First thing the next morning, Leona goes to the petrol station to get the missing piece of footage that she had been waiting a week for.

"Love come on. It's half seven in the morning. Give me a chance to –"

"No you have been fucking me about for a week. There is a killer out there who has murdered a young girl and we need this footage if we are going to find out who did it," Leona snapped. "If you don't I can have you done for obstructing a police investigation."

The manager relents and hands her the footage. She looks somewhat smug about it as she comes into work. The footage is scanned for signs of Molly and they hit bingo at eleven. Two people – two girls by the looks of it – meet her outside the petrol station.

"Sir, I've got something," she called Hardy over to look at the footage.

"Ah brilliant Starzweska," he exclaims looking at the footage. "Can you get a clearer shot?"

"I have the footage from the cash machine that can give us a better look." Change of footage angle and after fiddling with the speed and quick zoom they get a clear look at one of the girls.

"Isn't that Lilly Barnes?"

"I think so." Leona pulls up the interview with Lilly from the previous week and looks at the CCTV image again. "It's a bit blurry but the shade of red hair is distractive enough in this town."

Hardy calls Lilly's mother and they are back in the children's interview room, and this time he does not tread carefully, "Lilly, why did you lie about the last time you saw Molly?"

"I don't know."

"Lilly, this is serious. You could be charged with perverting the course of justice."

"She's just a child," her mother protested.

Hardy sighs and pushes the CCTV image of Lilly, Molly and the other girl, "Who is the other girl in the image?"

"That's Casey Channing."

"Who is she to you?"

"She deals drugs sometimes to some girls in school. Molly asked me if I could find a way to hook her up on that Wednesday. I asked those girls and they pointed me to Casey."

"Is that how she acquired the ketamine Lilly?"

"Yeah."

"Did she say why she wanted drugs?"

"She wanted to feel numb. I'm so sorry Mum."

"Okay, now you tell me when you really saw Molly last."

"I left around ten past eleven. I swear that is the last time I saw Molly."

-o-

"Casey Channing, twenty. Has previous charges for prostitution in London. Must have turned to drug dealing," Hardy runs through his findings and outs it to Ellie.

"Do you have people out looking for her?"

"Leona has gone with Brennan to bring her in for questioning. I don't think she is going to come in easily if it implicates her in a murder investigation."

"You'd think if people wanted their names cleared they would just tell the truth."

"Don't remind me. You think people would learn by now."

"Listen, I was thinking about inviting you around for dinner over the weekend. It won't just be you. Bring Daisy if you want. I might invite Tess as well. Before you start moaning, I don't think it would be fair to leave her out."

"I'm not moaning. Besides. It might be good for Daisy to see that I can be civilised in front of her mother."

"What makes her think that you two aren't civilised?"

"Last week she asked me if Tess being here was why I had a face like thunder."

"Your face always looks like thunder. Anyway, are you coming Sunday?"

"What time because Daisy has to get the train back to Sandbrook?"

"Lunchtime. Actually going to attempt a full dinner."

"Well, that is something I have to bear witness to."

"Oi, don't take the piss. I am at least trying. Even if my culinary skills are limited to one-pot meals and pasta."

At that point the hand radio goes off and it's Brennan's voice, "10-33, we have a subject on the run. 10-88."

"10-4," Ellie says back. "Any direction she is going?"

"Looks to be heading towards the sea front."

"Right, we need to go."

-o-

Leona and Brennan pursue Casey on foot while Ellie and Hardy take the car to the sea front and follows them from there. Casey gives them the run around through the caravans and breaks into the hut where Danny was murdered.

"Christ she is fast," Brennan panted.

"Casey, you have nowhere else to run," Leona adds, struggling to breathe herself.

"Fuck off and leave me alone!"

"We just want to ask you some questions," Hardy insisted though at this point he wasn't prepared to play ball.

"There isn't any point denying you know anything. We have CCTV footage to prove you saw her the night she was murdered," Ellie added.

"Why don't you just ask me here?"

"It needs to be recorded for evidence."

Casey thinks it over, then bulks. Only for Ellie to grab her around the waist. Caution given and handcuffed, Casey was put in the back of the police car.

"People don't make life simple do they?" Brennan asked walking back to his car.

"Wait until you've done the job as long as I have," Hardy replied.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Casey is changed out of her clothes which had gotten pretty filthy in the pursuit and put into a forensic suit before being taken to be interviewed. For the first time in years, Hardy and Tess are forced into the interview room together, though they do their best to not give the impression they were previously married, let alone had a catastrophic divorce.

"Please state your name for the tape," Hardy told Casey.

"Casey Elizabeth Channing. Born Chiswick, London. Live in Broadchurch. Unemployed. I've been through this plenty of times."

"Can you talk me through where you were the night of 17th September 2014?"

"I met Lilly Barnes at around quarter past ten after meeting my supplier an hour earlier. We then met Molly and I spent fifteen minutes trying to talk her out of it."

"You need the money so why do that?" asked Tess.

"She was fourteen. The same age as me when I got stuck on this shit. She had her whole life ahead of her and I did not want her to wreck it in the same way I did."

"So what happened after you left the girls?"

"I went home, took some heroin, passed out and once I woke up it was gone four and I called my mother. You can check my phone records."

"You called your mother at four in the morning?" asked Hardy.

"She works late shift and probably would have gotten home at that hour. Am I under arrest for murder because if so then I would like a lawyer?"

"We just wanted to ask some questions but you bailing on us doesn't look good."

"You can ask the desk sergeant: I was carrying heroin, ecstasy and ketamine. Also when you said you wanted to talk to me about Molly Carlisle I thought I would be done for supplying. That's fourteen years max plus the nineteen for possession. I'll be over fifty when I get out of prison."

"Oh so you at least have read up on the drug penalties."

"I have been trying to get off it. That's why I sold the drugs so I wouldn't be tempted to take it. Sometimes the withdrawal symptoms get too much though."

-o-

Cal Carlisle had been doing plenty to try to keep himself busy while the family tried to cope with their daughter's death.

Eva had been as unhelpful as possible, just staring at the television. Since her sister's death she had just zoned out.

The parents had been offered time off work but money was rather short and they needed a distraction.

Cal had taken the option of going to grab some milk because the family liaison officer was doing his head in and pretty much used it up for making tea. One the way to the shop, a woman had stood trying to light a cigarette.

"Excuse me, do you have a light?" she asked.

"Nah. Sorry love."

"Your Molly's brother right? Calvin?"

He somewhat grumbled, "Yeah."

"I'm Karen White. I write for the Daily Herald."

"I know who you are. I saw you around when that other kid was murdered. You managed to ruin Jack Marshall's life."

"Jack Marshall should have gotten police protection."

"If you're looking for an interview, you can go because my family don't need people intruding on our lives while we're in mourning."

"I'm not going to push you for an interview. I'll just give you my number."

"I'm not interested."

"Maybe it would be good for the nation to see Molly as something other than the dead girl. It won't make front page news, just a small profile."

"You can try all you like, she's still going to be that dead girl from Broadchurch. By the way, can you tell your lot to stop posting offers through our door?"

-o-

The next day is spent trying to find out if Casey's story is accurate. Her phone records show she made a phone call from her home at four that morning. Given that Molly had been killed that between three and five and Casey's flat was a little too far out of town, it would be a little unfeasible for her to have killed Molly. Instead she was charged with possession and supplying drugs and released on bail pending. Tess has a suspicion that Casey knows more than she was letting on so asks her to come back on Monday.

Sunday they are given the day off. Given them a chance to clear their heads before the week starts again. Ellie had slaved herself to the kitchen in preparation for this dinner party consisting of three adults and two teenagers, though given how much Tom seemed to be consuming these days it was almost as though she was feeding four adults.

"Tom can you do us favour and put Fred down for his nap?" Ellie called from the kitchen. "And don't stay up too long. Everyone will be here in a minute."

Right on cue, the front door rang. Hardy was the first to arrive with Daisy. He's also in jeans and a t-shirt. Ellie suspects Daisy had forced him to wear it, but he looks good in it. Really good. Actually rather attractive. Ellie quickly shakes the thoughts from her head and lets them in.

"Oh you at least knew to bring one gift this time," Ellie commented noting the bottle of wine. Then Daisy reveals the box of chocolates. "Ah."

"The chocolates are Daisy's so it's two gifts," Hardy explained.

"Still, generous."

Tess arrived five minutes later being greeted by Tom, who immediately returned to his phone, "Talkative one your lad."

"Tom be social," Ellie warned. Daisy wasn't doing much better as she was texting.

"Teenagers eh," Tess commented taking her glass of wine.

"I do wonder sometimes what would happen if the phone lines and internet went down," Ellie replied. "What would they do?"

"Depends if the television went as well. I say that but Daisy hasn't watched live television properly in about six months. All about Netflix."

"Well my son is permanently attached to that bloody X-Box."

"You are well aware we can hear you right?" Tom said.

"It's hardly untrue."

"Adults eh," Daisy muttered.

"Oi less of your cheek madam or else," Tess warned.

"Or else what? You already have left me alone in the house with Dave. I think I'd prefer being tossed in the middle of Baghdad."

"I can arrange it if you like."

The conversations don't produce much once dinner is actually ready. Daisy and Tom are a little monosyllabic. Really the adults were trying to avoid talking about the case as much as possible. Instead Tess turns to Hardy's love life or lack thereof.

"You know, Sandra Suggdon is single," Tess told Hardy. "She's moving to Woodhaven."

"Is Sandra Suggdon the one whose hair got burnt at Peter Dasher's barbecue?" asked Hardy. Tess nodded. "Not really her type am I."

"No one has a type anymore."

"Doesn't help that he is married to the job," Ellie commented.

"There is a woman out there for you Alec," Tess pointed out.

"Takes up too much energy," he replied though he didn't really sound like he meant it. Especially when he makes a quick glance at Ellie.

Daisy rolled her eyes and took another bite of her chicken. Tom doesn't take much notice. Tess just shakes her head and returned to her food. It wasn't especially the best meal in the world but it was at least edible. After dinner, Hardy helps with the washing up while Daisy and Tom run to the shops for sweets.

"Your mum is pretty cool," Daisy tells him.

"Yeah I suppose. Your mum seems cool." Daisy doesn't give anything off to suggest she agreed. "You don't think your mum is cool?"

"She's got a tosser living in our house. Anyway enough about my lot. Any girls take your fancy?" Tom groans and she giggles. "Oh come on. Dashing young football star like you must have a line of girls following you around."

-o-

"Is Tom coping alright? He just seemed a little quiet," Hardy inquired drying the last plate.

"I think he still hasn't figured out how to process what has happened in the last year."

"Have you spoke to him about seeing a child psychiatrist?"

"Twice but he shoved me off. I don't want to push him."

"You pushed him well enough to drag him back here."

"Dragged him more like. Still at least your teenager is well adjusted." Hardy scoffed. "What?"

"She acts like everything is okay, but I keep getting a feeling like she's hiding something."

"Maybe you just are paranoid as well as cynical."

"I'm not cynical."

"You expect the worst out of people."

"I don't. At least not everyone. How are you doing Miller?"

"Coping."

"Really?"

"It's really all I can do. I don't know if I can live in this house anymore. Just ghosts." Despite every voice in his head protesting that she'd only shove him off, he went to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Only for her phone to start ringing. "Can you grab that?"

He does, only the person on the other end is frantic, "Whoa slow down Tom. What's happened? Who's been hurt? Is Daisy alright?"


	5. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Minor description of injuries.

Chapter Four

To Hardy's upmost relief, it isn't Daisy that was hurt despite her hands being covered in blood. The victim had been Casey Channing. Casey is barely alive when she arrived at the hospital. Hardy notes that she must be a fighter if she is hanging on after two blows to the head with a hammer. While SOCO try to deal with the evidence, Leona and Brennan have to get statements from a visibly shaken Tom and Daisy. It isn't much, even for broad daylight, but they have at least an idea of the clothes the killer of Molly and attacker for Casey, assuming they were the same person, we're wearing. They had their hood up which obscured the face a bit. Black hoodie, blue jeans. Ellie makes contact with Casey's mother, who still lived in London, informing her of Casey's injuries. It isn't pleasant but as a mother herself, she felt Ms Channing had the right to know.

"She's in surgery right now," Tess informed once she arrived back at the station. "Doctors are trying all they can but it doesn't look good. Had to phone Dave to tell him Daisy is coming back tomorrow instead and he should phone the school."

"Uh God, now I need to phone the school and Tom a day off. Dunno what I'm going to say though. If I tell the truth then someone may leak it to the press. Though according to Brian the press are already outside the crime scene. They are like bloody vultures. Just picking at the scraps of whatever they can find to make a story. Not caring how they affect people."

"Your nephew is a journalist isn't he?"

"He isn't so much a vulture as he is just careless. Good thing he has Maggie to make sure he toes the line."

Brennan returns with Daisy, who looked as though she was trying to put on a brave face but failing hard, "Where's Dad?"

"He's at the hospital, waiting for Casey's mum to arrive," Tess answered pulling her in for a hug. "You did good okay. Probably saved her life putting that jumper against the wound like that."

Tess doesn't inform Daisy about the severity of the injury but Daisy is smart enough to know that the likelihood of Casey surviving is not particularly great. If anything, Daisy has just stalled Casey's death for a short while.

As soon as Leona arrives with Tom, who seemed to be more successful at the brave face thing, Ellie takes him home. He's so quiet but finally asks a question he's been holding in for years, "Why do people do things like that?"

"I don't know. I was told once that everyone is capable of murder given the right circumstances."

"Does that really excuse them?"

"No. It doesn't warrant a pat on the back because it is quid pro quo or whatever Latin saying it is."

"I don't know what that means."

"It just means that if your spouse was having an affair, it doesn't mean you should kill them."

"I still don't understand why the killer decided to attack that girl though."

"You're not the only one Sweetheart."

"You are going to find them? Right?"

"I hope so."

"Do you think I helped?"

"A bit."

"But not enough."

"Hey, Tom, don't worry. You helped us narrow it down to a slightly. That helps us out a lot."

Tom didn't look too convinced and reverted back to his quiet state. He just wanted his bed.

-o-

Hardy arrives home at eight only to find Tess on his sofa, drinking what looked to be his whiskey.

"Daisy alright?" he asked.

"She's in her room. You know we try our best to keep her as far away from work as possible, and now she's gone and witnessed a murder."

"Casey is not dead yet. She's just in a coma."

"Still."

"Are you staying the night or are you going to drive drunk back to the Traders?"

"Shut up. This is the first one I've drank."

"Suit yourself," he muttered making his way to Daisy's room. She's on the bed, headphones on, probably trying to block out the world. "Hey Darlin'."

She takes off her headphones as he sits on her bed, "Is she still alive?"

"Barely but the doctors say it is touch and go at this point. You feeling okay?"

"Pretty shit if I'm honest."

"Just so you know, not everyone is like the killer."

"How can you say that? You deal with these people every day. Besides you are the most cynical person I know."

"I might be cynical but I don't want you to end up like me. You're too young for that."

"I think I passed the cynical stage a long time ago. Probably from the moment you walked out." Hardy thinks to that moment, his bags packed, and the seething anger coming from a younger Daisy, eyes glaring at him as though he had betrayed her. The Daisy sitting in front of him now has a similar glare in her eyes but they now just look tired of the world. He forgets sometimes that she's only sixteen. "Why did you cover for Mum?"

"What do you mean?"

"When she lost the pendent because she thought shagging Dave the Tosser was a higher priority."

"How do you know?"

"I overheard you and Mum talking about it years ago. The reason I was mad at you was because you took the blame for her, when it wasn't even your fault."

Hardy was actually stumped for words. His daughter had sussed it out years ago, but was too mad to call him an idiot, "I thought you would be better off with your mother."

"Well, you were wrong."

"Listen, she still loves you. The affair had nothing to do with you. I just wasn't a great husband towards the end."

"Doesn't really justify it though."

Hardy agreed with his daughter, even if he didn't vocalise it, "Okay. Just try to get some sleep."

-o-

Hardy wakes up in the middle of the night, coughing and spluttering, drenched in sweat. It had been a few months since he had last dreamt of the river and they were getting less frequent, but the Casey's bloodied body had picked at some old wounds.

Tonight he dreamt that Casey was in Pippa's place. Only this time there were more bodies. Molly. Danny. Pippa. Lisa. All submerged in the water.

He slips out of bed and checks on Daisy. She's breathing slowly, deep in sleep. He's somewhat relieved. He didn't want a repeat of the incident where he frightened her not long after finding Pippa's body.

He barely sleeps the rest of the night.

-o-

Daisy goes back to Sandbrook the next morning. The conversation Hardy had with her plays on his mind as he walked to the station only to get bombarded by Karen.

"Are you treating this as a double murder enquiry?"

"Casey Channing is not dead as far as I am aware."

"So an attack in broad daylight, two witnesses and you have no idea who the killer is?"

"I'm not answering any of your questions. Anything I do say is through press conferences."

"Can you at least say if it is safe for young girls to go out?"

He blanks her as he walked into the station. He hasn't got time for the press and especially not Karen White.

"That woman is the most insufferable nosey person I have ever met," he grumbled.

"Who?" asked Brennan.

"Karen White. Journalist for the Herald."

"Oh right. She's the one who labelled you 'Worst Cop in Britain'." Brennan seems too amused at this.

Hardy is less than amused, "Glad to see you find this funny."

"The article was a load of bollocks anyway. Trying to shift the blame onto the police when they were the ones who hounded Jack Marshall to his death."

"Still not my most glowing character reference. Have you got the witness statements from last night on the system yet?"

"Yep. Daisy alright?"

"I think so."

"Well SOCO are retrieving the CCTV but it doesn't look like we'll get much. Camera is too far to get anything substantial, and the suspect ran in the opposite direction to the camera."

"That's all we have?"

"For the moment."

"Morning," Leona seemed to be too cheerful given last night's events. Then again judging by the four coffee cups in the holder and one in her other hand, she's probably on a small caffeine rush. "Brought some proper coffee."

"I don't drink coffee," Hardy grumbled.

"With all due respect sir, there is a reason that SOCO call you DI Shitface." Her mood seems to have gone sober somewhat. Brennan has already taken his cup. Hardy reluctantly takes his. "I just had someone try to corner me, asked for an exclusive on the case."

"It wouldn't be a woman with long dark hair would it?"

"Actually, no. She wasn't there. Some bloke from the Daily Mail, like I would actually prepare to be interviewed by them. Let's face it, they don't like Polish immigrants or their descendants. They don't like women. I would be the last person they would want to interview."

"So Karen White just left?"

"Yeah. Let's face it, unlike you DI Hardy I'm not her favouritist detective in the world so why else would she want to talk to me?"

-o-

Karen knocked on the hospital door where a woman, slightly middle aged, was sitting next to the bed.

"Sorry, is this Casey Channing's room?" she asked.

"Are you a friend?"

"I'm Karen White. I work for the Herald."

"I am not speaking to any papers."

"I am not here for a story; just to give some flowers. How is she?"

"Stable and that is all I am going to tell you."

"Mrs Channing, I am not meaning to push but in comparison to Molly Carlisle, the public won't even bat an eyelid at Casey. She's not the right profile or image but you can change that."

"I don't think you really care. You only care about getting your by-line on the front page. You all do."

"Excuse me but you need permission to be in here," Tess exclaimed walking into the room. "I suggest you leave now."

Karen sighed and put the flowers down, "You were on the Sandbrook case weren't you? DS Henchard?"

"It doesn't really matter who I am. I know who you are and if you dare try to screw my family over again then I will tear out those hair extensions and throw them in the sea."

"I think you already screwed your own family over."

-o-

Chief Superintendent Elaine Jenkinson interrogates Ellie into giving her some possible people of interest, "How can you not have any people of interest? There has been a separate attack."

"The parents are clean. Nothing flagged up with the siblings. The only real lead we have is whoever impregnated Molly, and we don't know if he'll be the same person who attacked Casey."

"Can you not do a DNA test on the foetus?"

"Possibly but I think that I would have to consult the family beforehand."

"If you think that is the ethical thing to do then so be it. How is your son? I know he witnessed the attack last night."

"Gave him the day off school. Probably playing that bloody X-Box as we speak."

"How are you fairing up with this team? Aside from Hardy and Henchard."

"Considering that about half of them are new, I think they seem to getting on okay."

"Just do us a favour and make sure Hardy doesn't bloody kill himself."

"You know that is easier said than done. Look I have to go and brief these lot on yesterday's attack."

By the time she had moved to the main room, pictures from the crime scene were being pinned on a separate board to the one detailing Molly Carlisle's case. They have to assume that the attacker is separate from the killer until the medical officer comes back with her initial findings.

"Okay, can anyone give any suggestions about last night's attack?"

"It could be a drug dealer," Brennan suggested. "Maybe she didn't pay up and you know how drug dealers can be. They will put a horse's head in your bed if you so much as betray them."

"Right, and on your undercover cases, how many of these drug dealers did exactly that?" Leona asked as though the suggestion was stupid.

"Have you got any better ideas?"

"I think it could be the same person who killed Molly."

"We can't jump to that conclusion just yet Starzweska," Hardy warned.

"I think the giant dent in both their heads is enough of a connection sir."

"You have to admit she has you there sir," Brennan added.

"Until medical comes back, the cases are separate," Ellie says looking at the boards. "Did they say how long they'd be?"

"This afternoon at the latest."

Tess had gotten lunch, bringing some for everyone else, mainly in her attempt to get Hardy to eat. While he seemed to have gotten better at taking care of himself, Tess was worried that he'd start slipping.

"Daisy's home," she told him.

"I'll call her later. See if she's okay." He glanced over at Ellie for a moment, then back at his sandwich. Out the corner of his eye, he sees Tess roll her eyes. "What."

"You can't keep your eyes off her. Word of warning, tread carefully."

He ignores his ex-wife, and looks back at Ellie. Their eyes meet for a second and Ellie smiles a little at him. His heart tugs but not for the wrong reasons.

"I didn't go looking for it Tess. It just happened."

-o-

The medical comes back: Casey had the exact same head injury as Molly, and one more blow would have killed her on the spot. Tom and Daisy had just barely saved her. Barely. The doctors don't look convinced that Casey would survive for another week. They have done at least two operations but she was showing no sign of response.

Hardy wakes up the next morning to the sound of his phone. He has a text from Olly Stevens of all people. Probably tried to get a story out of him. Only he is suspicious when he actually reads the message.

*This had nothing to do with me.*

Hardy goes to his computer and looks at the Herald website. Then his stomach drops at the headline and the first paragraph: Sandbrook, truth, affair with another DS, wife of DI Hardy, DS Henchard, and lost evidence.

Then he sees the by-line and he is furious.

-o-

Tess walked into CID and found at least five eyes look at her disapprovingly. Brennan and Leona appear to avoiding all eye contact and Ellie had barely acknowledged her enter.

"Has something happened?" she asked Leona.

The younger woman doesn't make eye contact but answered, "Have you seen the front page of the Herald?"

"No. What happened?"

Leona looks at Brennan and he, somewhat reluctantly, pulls his copy of the paper out of his bag and presents it to Tess.

"You have to be joking."

In the meantime, Hardy as stormed straight into the Broadchurch Echo and it seems Maggie has already started giving Karen the third degree, "I DON'T CARE IF SHE SHAGGED AN ENTIRE RUGBY TEAM, SHE'S HERE TO SOLVE A MURDER OR HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT?"

This is probably the first time Hardy had ever seen Maggie Radcliffe lose her temper but given the last time that Karen White exposed something in Broadchurch, it left Jack Marshall dead. Olly looks so frightened that Hardy imagines that the young man would never step a foot out of line again.

"This isn't about the fact she slept with someone. She lost evidence that should have gotten Lee Ashworth sent down in the first place," argued Karen.

At that point, Hardy snapped, "This is not about Sandbrook. That is done. This is your editor wanting a sensationalist story to put the police in the bad light because you cannot get anything from the families. You know what I don't blame the families for not wanting you to interview them. The Latimers asked for your help: all the got is cameras shoved in their face as they ate their bloody dinner, more press hounding an innocent man, and you just waltz in and out like you did not care for the shit you had brought."

"You were the one who told these two about your wife sleeping with another DS."

"I specifically asked them not to name the DS. If it was any of your business, which quite frankly it isn't, Tess and I splitting up was a mutual decision not long after the pendent was lost. I still loved her enough and knew she was a damn good officer that made one major fuck up to take the blame for the pendent. I don't care if you label me Britain's Worst Cop or whatever it was. I only cared about the welfare of my family and I would rather your lot not chase after my daughter because of what my ex-wife did." The other three are quiet. Maggie and Olly were aware of the reason why Hardy took the blame for Sandbrook, but Karen had no idea that Hardy had a child. "You are lucky that she already knows about the affair, but my point is that you went out your way to humiliate an officer because you couldn't get your own way. Now you either get out of Broadchurch or actually try to do something helpful, because I have had it up to here with you. Not journalists. You."

She folded her arms and thought about it for a moment, "Right, can you just give me an idea as to whether you are linking these two incidents?"

Hardy sighed, "Are you actually serious right now?"

"Yes. You want me to be helpful then I need details. Anything that may jog someone's memory or noticed something unusual."

He looked to the other two for a moment before back at her, "Fine, but you do not print it in the Herald, and you do not make any comment on any of my team alright? Especially Ellie and Tess. Deal?"

"Fine."

"Good. Now can we get this over with so I can get back to solving a murder?"

-o-

Ellie vacates her office so Tess could rant at Hardy and he lets her until she's done. The other officers outside try to focus on their work though the shouting is rather distracting. No one quite expected Tess to have a set of lungs on her. Ellie had to hold back a laugh at how scared Hardy looked.

"Okay, I already gave Karen White an earful," he explained. "She's like a vulture. Just picking at the remnants until she is satisfied. Couldn't even acknowledge she played a part in Jack Marshall's suicide. She only did it because neither family is giving her an exclusive."

"And what about Daisy? What about if someone tells her at school?"

"Tess… She already knows. She's known for years. She overheard us talking one night."

"How do you know?"

"She told me the other night."

"So the swearing, the dismissing of Dave and the attitude are all because she knew?"

"That and she is a sixteen year old girl."

"Are you defending that?"

"No. Though I would probably have started rebelling if I had to live with Dave."

"You are not helping."

"What do you want me to do Tess? She knows already. You don't have to worry about her screaming down the phone at you. Besides she doesn't even read the Herald. Nor do any of her classmates."

"Their parents might."

"Fair point but let's face it, you don't drop her at school so they probably won't even register on their radar. If it isn't about Kim Whatsherface or One Direction then they probably don't care. We'll speak to Daisy later but right now we have a murder to solve."

They leave the office where the other officers returned to their work quickly. Tess sighed and asked, "How much did you hear?"

"Enough," Ellie answered.

"And?"

"As you said, your marriage is not of our concern," Brennan replied.

"And Sandbrook has been solved so it's not as if we have an axe to grind," Leona added.

"Good."

"Right, now this is over, can we get on with trying to solve a murder?" Hardy asked.

-o-

Later that afternoon, Leona goes to get Phoebe from the child minder only before she could get out, she's stopped in her tracks by a tall, rather gangily looking young man.

"Excuse me, are you an officer on the Molly Carlisle murder?" the man asked.

"Yeah. Do you have anything to report?"

"I found these in some shrubbery whilst I was walking the dog." He holds up a t-shirt and mobile phone. The t-shirt is the same design and shade Molly was wearing the night she was killed. At least he had the common sense to wear gloves while handling them. "Thought these would be important."

"Yes, thank you." She was just about to run the items (hands gloved) into CID when she notices that the man doesn't leave. "Did you need anything else?"

"Can I speak to your DI please?"

"Yeah, just bear with me a moment. Rick, can you lead Mr …"

"Daynes."

"Mr Daynes to interview room one?" Leona runs quickly into CID and places the items in front of Ellie. "Man just came into the station, said he found them in some shrubbery. It's Molly's phone and T-shirt."

Ellie immediately starts bagging the items to be sent for forensic testing, "I thought you were picking Phoebe up."

"I was but the man – A Mr Daynes – said he wanted to speak to you. He's in interview room '

"Did he say why?"

"No, just wanted to speak to you. He looked pretty desperate if you ask me Ma'am."

Ellie hands the bags to Brennan who goes to get them sent to forensics while she goes to the interview room. To her surprise, Mr Daynes turns out to be Elton, the young farmer who had the displeasure of finding Molly's body, "Elton?"

-o-

"Why did you not say anything sooner Daisy?" Tess asked while on the phone.

_"_ _It's hardly a topic to talk about over dinner: hey Mum why did you shag another bloke while married to Dad?"_

"I just want you to know that what Karen White wrote in the paper is not completely true. Anything that you don't know about already is a load of lies just spruced up by the editor."

_"_ _I know. Look Mum, just don't worry about school. Kids don't take notice unless it is someone from The Only Way is Essex or Harry Styles."_

"Alright Daise just make sure you behave for Dave." Tess knows Daisy is rolling her eyes, even if she cannot see it. "Your dad wants to speak to you."

She passed the phone over to Hardy who immediately tried to change the subject, "Hey Darlin', you doing okay?"

_"_ _As well as you can be when you've witnessed a murder and had your own mother's affair published in the national paper."_

"It'll blow over in a few days don't worry. Though Casey isn't dead so-"

_"_ _Is she awake then?"_

"Still in a coma. Doctors say it is touch and go."

_"_ _You said that yesterday. Anyway, is Tom alright?"_

"Bearing up I think." His own phone starts ringing on the side and it's Ellie. "Listen Daisy I have to go. I think something has just come up."

_"_ _Okay. I love you Dad."_

"Love you too." He passed the phone to Tess and answered his own, "Sorry Miller. I was on the phone with Daisy."

_"_ _You need to come in, Molly's secret boyfriend has just walked into the station."_


	6. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight early update because looking at the dates, I could potentially be on holiday on the day the last chapter goes up. 
> 
> TW: none graphic description of child/adult relationship.

Chapter Five

"How old are you Elton?" Ellie asked with Hardy beside her and Elton sitting opposite them.

"Eighteen."

"And you were sleeping with a fourteen year old girl?" Hardy asked.

"No. We never slept together."

"Are you telling the truth because this is serious?"

"Yes. I can prove the baby wasn't mine."

"Just because the DNA won't match yours doesn't mean you didn't sleep with her."

Ellie changes the topic somewhat, "How long have you two been seeing each other?"

"About five months ago."

"Did you not think that the age thing would be problem?"

"I wouldn't have done anything until she was at least sixteen."

"That would have been two years from now. Just saying teenage boy, full of testosterone," suggested Hardy. Ellie lightly kicks him under the table. "So if you were not having sex, what was the nature of your relationship?"

"We just talked and went to the pictures and cafes. I know that just sound corny as hell but that was all it was."

"Any kissing?" asked Ellie.

"A little but it never went further. Listen, before you get any ideas, I did not kill her. I loved her."

"Why did you not tell me this in the first place Elton?"

"Because it looks worse than it actually is. I mean your fellow DI is suggesting that I committed a sexual assault on a minor."

Ellie and Hardy look at each other, and decide to suspend the interview for now.

"You think he did it." Ellie wasn't asking.

"There is certainly a motive. Even if the baby wasn't his, he could have killed her out of anger."

"Why would he then take her body up to that field, run her corpse over with a tractor then call the police?"

"Cover his tracks. I say keep him in for the night and then we'll pick up in the morning."

Ellie goes home and is surprised to find her sister at the house wiping what looked to have been yoghurt off Fred's face.

"Key was under the plant pot," Lucy explained. "Thought I would check if Tom was okay. Gave him some food. So what is the latest?"

"I can't tell you anything about the case."

"I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about you and Hardy."

"What about Hardy and me?"

"Has he asked you out?"

"What? Are you out of your mind?"

"Just saying, watching you two at those press conferences, you both seem close."

"Don't be daft Lucy. We're not interested in each other in the slightest. Anyway, where is Tom?"

"In his room. Where else would he be?"

Ellie finds Tom playing with his phone, "Hey sweetheart."

"Hey."

"School okay?"

"School is school."

Ellie tries to find a spot on the bed but given that the bed was becoming too small for the growing boy, she needed to find a new one soon, "We need to talk about something so if you could just put your phone down for a moment." He does. "What is going on in your head Tom? I'm just worried."

"Mum I'm fine."

"I just think you are too quiet. You have never been this quiet. Is something bothering you?"

"No."

"Not what happened on Sunday?" He shakes his head unconvincingly. "Do you need to speak to someone?"

Tom rolled his eyes, "Mum I do not need to see a psychiatrist."

"I just think you need to speak to someone. You won't talk to me. I just don't really know what to do anymore."

"Mum. I'm fine. Really."

Ellie sighs. She still isn't convinced. At the end of the day he's still the child and she's the parent. She's asked three times and now she needs to put her foot down if they are to ever recover from the remnants of Joe's betrayal.

-o-

Hardy and Ellie are back in the interview room the next morning and Elton is still insisting that his relationship with Molly was by no means a sexual one. Hardy still isn't entirely convinced but even he knows that this is all circumstantial. That was until a bracelet was found in Elton's car that the Carlisles identified as Molly's. The CCTV footage from the cash machine shows that Molly was wearing it when she met Lilly and Casey the night she died.

"Care to explain how Molly's bracelet was in your car?" Ellie asked pushing the evidence bag forward.

"She came to mine the night she died. She told me that she was pregnant but the baby wasn't mine."

Hardy feels somewhat smug, "What time was this?"

"About one in the morning. She spent an hour there before I drove her back home."

"You drove her home?" asked Ellie.

"Yes. The last time I saw her, I walked her to the front door and left. I was barely there for ten seconds."

"What about after?"

"I went to see a friend of mine, James Perkins."

"Can he say if that is true or not?" asked Hardy.

"Yes. He's in Weymouth at the moment."

They don't have enough of a reason to keep him in; they manage to confirm his story is through CCTV where his Land Rover is spotted entering the road the Carlisles live and leaves about a minute later. Not enough time to have killed Molly and cleaned the evidence and there is nothing in his house or car to suggest she was killed in either location or the car was used to move the body. Hardy still wants to check there were no gaps in his alibi given that Joe Miller's trial fell apart partly due to the gaps in people's information and alibis. He cannot afford to have a third murder trial collapse on him due to errors.

They still have to wait for pathology to come back with the DNA from Molly's baby, and then there is another blow. Ellie gets a call from the hospital: Casey had died that morning so they were now looking at a double homicide. The body is taken to pathology and Jane Lincoln confirmed what the medical had already said: death by blunt force trauma with a hammer. They make an announcement to the press.

Karen White seems to be keeping her head down and focusing on the case, not hounding the families, though the other press seemed to have not got the message, practically shoving offers through the door for interviews. They didn't think they needed an interview since the news was covering the case enough what with the various arrests and people being questioned. They still needed to question James Perkins.

"I have gotten in contact with the friend Elton mentioned but he cannot speak to us until tomorrow." Ellie announced to Hardy as they make yet another cup of tea. "I've also had a thought. Elton says he dropped Molly at her house at around half two. There isn't any evidence to suggest she went out after."

"You think she was killed in the house?"

"More than likely. I'll need to talk to the family to see if we can get SOCO in to look around."

"I'll arrange a room at the Traders for them. I think Becca will understand."

"Becca now?"

"Don't start Miller, besides she's with Coates isn't she?"

At that point Tess marches in looking furious, "Your daughter has gotten herself suspended from school?"

Hardy squints in confusion, "What?"

"She punched another girl in the face and now she is excluded from school for two weeks."

"Two weeks just for a punch in the face?"

"The girl's nose was broken."

Hardy sighed, "Look, I'll go up and get her. That way you can give her an earful."

-o-

Daisy is sulking on the sofa when Hardy arrives. He doesn't exchange pleasantries with Dave, though the latter is surprised it is Hardy that has come.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Hardy asks firmly. Daisy shrugged. "Don't you dare shrug at me Daisy Anne Hardy. You are in serious trouble with your mother when I take you to Broadchurch."

"Wait what?" Dave asked.

"She's suspended for two weeks. I think that is enough punishment without her having to spend time with you."

Daisy holds back a laugh. The drive to Broadchurch is mostly silent.

"Do you have any work to do?"

"The whole point is to take me out of the education system. However, I have an essay due next week so they gave me a pass."

"You do know this will be on your record."

"And it could impact on my chance to get into uni. I know. The head gave me the lecture."

"Well here is the deal: no phone or Twitter. You only use my computer to do your work. You are not allowed to go out without my permission. Is that clear?"

She sighed, "Crystal."

Tess is fuming when they arrive back at the cottage. Daisy just stands there, not particularly sorry, mumbling that the kid she punched in the face deserved it. Hardy sends her to her room, telling her to start working on that essay while he goes back to work.

"Brilliant, our daughter is a teenage delinquent," Tess comments getting in the car.

"Give her a break Tess, we still don't know the reason why she did it." They get to the station where Ellie jumped him, pulling him to her car. "Whoa Miller where is the fire?"

"The DNA test came back," she announced. "Elton isn't the father."

"But you know who is?"

"On a hunch, I got them to see if it matches any DNA on the database in the area. We have a match."

Judging by how pissed she looks, Hardy knows that this guy isn't going to be a teenager, more like a middle age man. He isn't wrong. Christopher Barthon, aged 41, lived just opposite the secondary school Tom, Chloe, Eva and, until her death, Molly attended. His DNA came up on the database as a result of some assaults back in his hometown in Manchester. Now he was in more serious trouble.

Hardy just scowls at him, trying to resist the urge to throw the guy out the bedroom window as Ellie cuffed and recited his rights.

The scowl doesn't relent when they start the interview.

"How did you know Molly Carlisle?" asked Ellie, trying to keep her tone calm.

"No comment."

"Don't you bloody no comment us. We have proof that you know Molly rather intimately," Hardy's tone is not as calm.

Ellie pushes forward the paper with the DNA on and she proceeds to explain, "That is Molly's DNA. That is your DNA. This last one is the DNA of her unborn baby. She was eight weeks along when she was killed. Care to explain how she was carrying your baby?"

Barthon remains silent.

"How did you two meet?" asked Hardy. "You live just across the road from the school so did you approach her?"

"I really wouldn't start avoiding questions, since we have substantial DNA proof the CPS will allow us to charge you anyway with sexual assault of a minor."

Barthon sighed, "She approached me. I was walking my dog when she came up to give the dog some fuss."

"So you led her back to your house to rape her?"

"No. This started happening three months ago. I offered her to walk the dog if she liked."

"That doesn't sound like grooming at all," Hardy's tone was sarcastic though Ellie lightly kicked him in the ankle. "So how did she end up pregnant with your kid?"

"One day I came home and she seduced me."

"And at no point did you think that you were doing something wrong when you slept with a fourteen year old?" asked Ellie.

"She said she was sixteen."

"Oh that makes it better." She's bitter and sarcastic. "So where were you the night Molly died?"

"At a wedding in London. My girlfriend can confirm that. Do you have anything else?"

"Not until we speak to your partner."

-o-

"He was telling the truth," Brennan announced walking into the office. "They were at the Dorchester and I rang up the hotel. Barthon was there the whole night."

"Thanks Carl." He leaves Ellie sighs and puts her face in her hands. "Why do we not have an idea of who did it yet?"

"Elton's motive is pretty solid."

"There really isn't any evidence though."

"I'm more than willing to try our bets on him."

Ellie gets up and goes to the main room, "Right, everyone can go home and get some sleep. We reconvene at nine tomorrow."

"Alec do us a favour and talk to your daughter. See why she did it," Tess ordered.

"Why is she only ever my daughter when she's in trouble?" he muttered.

Ellie drives him to his cottage before returning to her house. Daisy is staring at the television when he comes in and sits next to her.

"Before you say anything, you never said nothing about me not being able to watch television."

"Your mother wants to know why you punched someone in the face."

"You aren't even married so I don't know how she still has you whipped."

"Quit stalling Daisy."

"If I tell you then can I have my phone back?"

"No. And if you don't tell me the truth, I will have to impose an Amish existence onto you."

"I don't know what that means."

"What do they teach you? You'll just have no access to anything electronic. Is it about what happened with Casey?"

"No. Well kind of. Some girls were talking about the case from what they saw in the paper. They said that you were going to fail the Carlisles like you failed the Gillespies."

"Daisy, you don't have to get yourself into trouble just for me."

"Says the person who gave himself a heart problem because he wanted to protect me. I just lost it. Part of me just wanted to scream that it was Mum but... It just isn't fair that you took all the shit Mum deserved."

"I know you're angry at her but she's still your mother and you need to show some respect."

"She doesn't know nothing about respect," she says with such bile as she goes to her room.

Hardy sighed. He knows Daisy doesn't mean it, he hopes. At the moment she just seems to be letting out the anger that's she's been holding in for years. Tess assumed that the swearing, the dismissing of Dave, the eye rolling and the increase in sarcasm were all a reaction to the divorce. She probably isn't wrong but Daisy lost a lot of respect for Tess from the second she found out about the affair, and probably lost a lot of respect for him for taking the blame.

Hardy is taken out of his thoughts when his phone rings. He snapped, "What?"

_"What crawled up your arse and laid a nest there?"_ Murray asked.

"Sorry just a rough day. You find anything?"

_"Nothing on your suspect's computer that proves the e-mails were from him. Nothing that's been deleted or wiped completely. Sorry, can't do much else."_

"No problem. I'll just have to tell Miller."

The phone is hung up, and Hardy kicked the coffee table. They were at a dead end. While there is a clear motive for Elton to be the killer, nothing else is adding up. All he can do is get the CCTV reviewed in case something was missed.

-o-

"Mum, I don't need a therapist," Tom insisted.

"Well if you won't talk to me then who will you speak to?"

"I don't need to speak to anyone," his voice was raised. "I'm fine. If I was bloody depressed then I would not be playing football, playing games-"

"I don't think you are depressed, I just think you are holding in a lot of stuff and you won't talk about it."

"I don't and I don't need a therapist."

"Well tough because I have already booked a session for tomorrow."

"Oh for God's sake Mum," he stormed out. At least that was a better reaction than what she expected though she was reaching the end of her tether with her eldest. So much so that when she heard the front door ring and opened it, she snapped, "What?"

"Sorry," Hardy mumbled, confused as to what he had done now.

"No, sorry. I shouldn't have bit your head off like that."

"Need a drink?" he asked holding up a bottle of whiskey.

"You might have just become my new favourite person." Whiskey open, the pair tried to nurse their issues, though the alcohol didn't seem to be helping. "I just don't know what I can do with Tom anymore."

"He's handled more stress in the last year than any lad his age needs."

"And I wish he would bloody talk to someone about it rather than bottling it in."

"I know the feeling. Daisy has known about Tess's affair for years and never told anyone. Now she's only gotten herself suspended from school for punching a girl in the face."

"You don't think he could end up like Joe?"

"Don't be daft."

"You did say that anyone can kill under the right circumstances, and Joe didn't strike anyone as a killer."

"I know. I don't really know how to reassure you."

"Then don't."

"I don't really know what to do about Daisy. She's never lashed out like that at anyone."

"At least she is dealing with her anger."

"Not exactly in the way I want her to. I did think about sending her to therapy."

"Christ look at us. Two detectives, one with a cheating ex-wife, one with a murderous ex-husband and kids who are so emotionally repressed they don't know how to handle it."

Hardy sighed and put his whiskey down, "Come here."

"What?"

"Let me give you a hug Ellie." A part of her tried to fight it off, but the rest just gave in and let him wrap his arms around her. "Feeling better?"

"Maybe a little bit." Then she felt his lips softly kiss the top of her head. "Do you think we're going to catch whoever killed Molly and Casey?"

"Yeah. We will," he whispered.

She pulled out a little, but not enough so his hands were still on her waist. Whether she was slightly intoxicated from the whiskey, or just felt something surge in her from this intimate moment, it doesn't stop her from leaning up to kiss him.

Hardy looks confused at this touch, but once the shock wears off, he starts to reciprocate. Gladly. He buries his hand in her hair, the other caressing her lower back. She cups his face with both hands.

"Stay," she whispered between kisses. Her hands start working on his tie.

"Ellie," he gasped, "I need you to be sure about this."

"Just give me one night."

At that point he pulled away, "I can't do that."

"What?"

"Miller, a cheap drunk one night stand isn't you."

"We're back to surnames now? Great. Besides I am not even drunk."

"You are not listening."

"Why did you even bother kissing me back?"

"Because I allowed myself to believe I could be with you. If you are just looking for a one night thing, then I cannot offer you that."

Ellie looks at him confused for a moment, until it does dawn on her, "You're in love with me?" Hardy looks down, pretty much confirming his answer. "Why haven't you said anything?"

"You deserve to have someone who loves you, but who can be the ideal husband, who doesn't have a fucked up heart, dreams about recovering a dead girl's body from a river, and someone who doesn't have so much emotional baggage that could take up a whole luggage carousel." She looks at him both equally astonished and annoyed. "Look, I need to get back to my place. I left Daisy alone."

He quietly slipped out the house, leaving Ellie to ponder. Alec Hardy was in love with her, and he was right though, a cheap one night fling was never her, and only really did she feel sexually attracted to someone if she was felt romantically attached to them. While both make her feel as though she could throw up, she makes the comparison between Joe and the bloke she met at the bar. It makes her sick that she had fallen for the illusion Joe had offered.

But Joe was no longer around, and she thought that she could live without a man. She probably still could, but now she realised that the feelings she felt whilst kissing Alec Hardy had very little to do with the alcohol: she wanted to have sex with him because she felt her stomach flip as she kissed him, she actually liked his company – when he wasn't being a knob – and often felt her heart elevate by even the smallest of touches from him.

She had feelings for the man. Feelings for bloody Scottish grumpy arse DI Shitface Alec Hardy.

"Fuck..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't kill me. Please don't kill me.


	7. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Under Age Drinking (UK Law-applicable)

Chapter Six

Hardy wakes up after an awful night's sleep. While he didn't dream of the river or finding a dead body in there, he was still wrapped with guilt over the way he rejected Ellie's advances. It wasn't as though he didn't want to but he couldn't spend just the one night with her if it was just going to a non-committal shag. He had to do it for both their sakes. He's torn. He's in love with her but doesn't think he is good enough for her. He's not able to give her the life she had before.

He slogs to the kitchen where Daisy's mood has not improved from the previous night. The news is low in the background and the pictures of Molly and Casey's faces appear on the screen.

"You look like shit," she comments.

"You need to work on this attitude Daisy. It won't do you any favours."

"Just saying."

"Look, we're going to have a sit down tonight and talk. I'll make bolognaise."

"Yeah, whatever."

If he thought Daisy was being difficult, he had to imagine how Ellie was going to treat him that morning. Though rather than giving him a cold shoulder, she asks him questions and they immediately go to the Carlisles after talking to Brian.

"You are saying that Molly was killed in the house?" asked Mrs Carlisle.

"After going through some enquires, we found out that Molly was taken back to the house. The person who brought her back was only there for thirty seconds, which if she was killed here means that he would not have had enough time to kill her, get her body into the car and clean up the blood," Hardy explained.

"Also there isn't any evidence suggesting that Molly had left the house after she was returned," added Ellie.

Brian was using his UV light to find any traces of blood, striking gold in the kitchen, "Ma'am, I have found blood. Lots of it."

Ellie explains where the family would be going for the time being, but they can only take a few things. Then Brian checks Cal's car: blood in the boot. Hardy decided to pull Cal aside as he was quite explicit in where he was the night Molly died, "I think we need to talk."

Just before they leave, Eva asked, "Who brought her home? I just need to know."

"I can't tell you that Eva, sorry."

-o-

"Cal you said you were in the house the night Molly was killed. We now know she was killed at the house and you were the only one in the house," Ellie said. "Did you not hear anything?"

"No. I am a heavy sleeper. I know that sounds like a pathetic excuse but I didn't hear a thing." The man is shaking and on the verge of tears. Ellie looks at him sympathetically. "Molly was killed and I was asleep upstairs I mean what sort of brother am I if I cannot even be awake to save my baby sister."

"How did the blood get into your car?"

"I dunno. I left my keys on the bookcase so whoever did it must have stolen the car. What sick fuck kills a fourteen year old girl and dumps her using her brother's car."

"Cal, I know this sounds like the last thing you want to hear but we're going need to keep you in until we can completely eradicate you as a suspect."

"Fine. I get it."

In CID, everyone doesn't seem to know what to do. The trial has gone cold and no one is convinced that Cal was the killer.

"If the front door was left open, it could have been anyone," Tess suggested.

"It had to be someone she knew. There was no sign of a burglary the night she died," Hardy replied.

"We need to draw up a new list then," Ellie said grabbing a clean white board. "Any names? Anyone we might have overlooked?"

They do list some people who Molly hadn't gotten on with but it wasn't something that went further than some playground bitching. However the team are one person down as Leona has to be called home as Phoebe has come down with a fever. Really all they can do for now is talk to James Perkins.

-o-

Ellie has Olly take Tom to see Dr Leigh-Ann Clennel, a psychiatrist who worked in around the Broadchurch are who specialised in teenagers. The boy doesn't budge from the car for ten minutes before relenting. His cousin seemed just as concerned about him so Olly was not going to roll over easily.

He goes in but sits on the sofa quietly. The woman in front of him seems patient but after about ten minutes, she decides to speak, "So, Tom. Why are you here?"

"My mother made me."

"Do you think she is worrying over nothing?" Tom shrugs. "She briefed me on the situation. I cannot imagine it being easy for you knowing that your dad murdered your best friend. Can you at least tell me what you are thinking?"

"That this is utterly pointless."

"You might not say that in forty-five minutes."

"I don't even know what you expect me to say. On one hand I hate my dad because he killed Danny but he's still my dad."

"That's something. Can you do me a favour, and just take a breath." He does. "Now just tell me everything that is on your mind. Quick as you like and then we'll talk about them."

"I saw someone get beaten to death, my dad killed my best friend and the last thing I said to Danny was that I could have killed him."

"Christ kid, you haven't had it easy."

"It's not that bad. It's just that I don't really know how to speak to my mum about it. I think she'd get it but we've been trying so hard to move on it's just going to bring everything back up."

Well, we still have a while. You can talk to me about Danny if that'll help."

"Okay…"

-o-

Hardy gets the impression Ellie is pissed at him the moment she gets in his car to drive to Weymouth. It's not until they are a quarter of the way there that he even dares to speak, "Are we not going to talk about last night?"

"No."

"Ellie-"

"Don't call me Ellie."

"Miller, I shouldn't have led you on like that."

"Don't beat yourself up, you saved me from what probably would have been a disappointing shag anyway."

"Good, because you don't have feelings for me. As I said, cheap one night things are not for you."

"How do you know they aren't for me?"

"I can just tell."

"Oh so you can tell everything about my sex life now. Or have you just gotten bored with not having your own that you have to poke your nose into mine?"

"When was the last time you had sex for the hell of it?"

"Are we actually having this conversation?"

"I'm making a point?"

Ellie sighed, "I shagged a bloke months back. Just picked him up and took him back to your place." Hardy squinted. She wasn't bluffing. Before he could respond the car started making an odd noise and suddenly smoke was leaking out the bonnet, "Are you kidding me?"

-o-

Olly let's Tom go to the shop for milk, though really the last thing Tom had expected to see was Daisy sliding a bottle of vodka into her coat out of sight of the cashier. Ignoring the milk, he followed her out.

"Daisy what are you doing?"

"Getting on a plane to Australia, what does it look like I am doing?"

"What if Mrs Patel had seen you, they have CCTV you know."

"Who cares?"

"Look, just come back to ours."

"Hmm, let me think: get drunk or play a stupid video game. Such a difficult choice?"

"Why are you being like this? I'm your friend. Why are you sad?"

"I'm not sad," she walked away to the nearby wall and sat on it, still sipping the vodka.

Not knowing what to do, Tom called Chloe to see if she could talk some sense into Daisy. Chloe had pretty much ran to him by which point Daisy had gone and finished the bottle and started walking up and down the wall, wobbling a little.

"Daisy come on, get down you're going to fall," Chloe shouted.

"Why it's beautiful up here? I can see for miles." She does a quick spin, pretending that she was going to fall. "Got you there."

"Daisy, come on. Let's just get you back to mine."

"Alright." Before she could even attempt to climb down, the turn she made sent Daisy flying backwards, screaming, onto the hard ground about fifteen foot down.

"Daisy!"


	8. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So given how the next few chapters have serious cliffhangers I'm posting on Wednesdays and Sundays just to keep everyone's mind at rest.

Chapter Seven

"How can you not have any battery on your phone?" Hardy yelled.

"I only had enough to call the AA. Besides you're the idiot who left his phone back home."

"What did they say?"

"They'll tow us to a garage back in Broadchurch, but they are not going to be here for half hour."

"So we're just going to stand here?"

"Have you ever broken down before Hardy?"

"No but then again my other cars have been such a shit piece of metal."

He leans against the car and scowls. They are silent until the AA man collects them and takes them to a garage in Broadchurch.

"Calmed down?" Ellie asked on the walk back from the garage.

"Just about. You?"

"Not quite Where do you get off on making my life your business?"

"It wasn't something I intended to do Miller."

"You never really answered my question the other night."

"Miller-"

"Well?"

"There is no point. There is no way in hell you could ever feel the same way. I'm not going to say if I know you'll just reject me. Besides, as I said, you deserve better than me."

"You didn't seem to be fazed by the fact I had a one night stand."

"Ellie I would not care if you shagged an entire rugby team. What you do with your body is nothing to me. As I said, there is no way in hell you could feel the same."

Ellie looks at him, and she wants to tell him she felt the same but her heart is telling her one thing and her mind telling her another. She's just so confused but she has to put the case first.

Ellie turned into a gate, and Hardy is surprised when Leona answered the door, "I thought you were going Weymouth."

"His car broke down."

Leona could sense that something had happened between her two superiors but decided not to bring it up. Instead she made them both a cup of tea. While the women talked in the kitchen, Hardy had been relegated to the living room where Phoebe was blinking owlishly at him. After a moment she picked up one of the toy giraffes from the Noah's ark play set and gave it to Hardy.

"Thank you."

She started singing something in the garbled toddler speak and Hardy can't help be amused. It reminds him so much of Daisy when she was that age. Fred had more words in his repertoire though the way he came out with them had amusing results.

"What do you think Phoebe? Should I just ask Aunt Ellie out?"

"Yes," he jumped at Leona's voice. "You are in love with her so why not bite the bullet?"

"She'll laugh in my face."

"No offence sir but when was the last time you went on a date?"

"Probably before you were even born Starzweska," he replied sardonically.

"That would not even surprise me. You do know what a date is right? It's where two people go out and get to know one another." His face looks at her as though she has insulted his own intelligence. "Sorry, didn't mean for it to sound patronising. In all seriousness though, do ask her out. I don't think she'd laugh. Maybe look at you as if you've lost your mind, but not laugh."

"You really think she'd say yes?"

"It's worth a shot."

Ellie returned from the bathroom and her heart skipped a bit when she saw Hardy play with Phoebe. The toddler seemed to have taken a shine to Hardy for some reason. He seemed to have something that made toddlers love him, especially since Fred adores his Uncle Alec. Somewhere she lets her mind drift, imagining that Hardy was playing with their - Ellie and Hardy's - baby. Her eyes widen and shakes the moment from her head. While Ellie ponders in her thoughts, Leona has answered a phone call from Brennan and he sounds somewhat panicked so she handed the phone to Ellie.

_"Ma'am, Elton Daynes has been taken to hospital with head injuries. More than likely inflicted by a hammer._

-o-

Ellie and Hardy arrive at the hospital where Tess briefs them: Elton is still alive, the injuries don't look life threatening and they might have hit jackpot on the CCTV footage.

"So that pretty much eliminates Elton and Cal as suspects," Hardy says.

"At least we might have something this time," Ellie pointed out. "When is the footage getting to us?"

"Tomorrow morning," Tess answered.

They were just about to leave when Chloe walked out of a room at the other end of the hall, looking shaken.

"Chloe? What are you doing here?" Ellie asked.

"Why have you not been answering your phone?"

"I don't have my phone on me and Miller's is dead," Hardy answered. "Chloe what is going on?"

"Daisy's been in an accident."

-o-

Daisy looks as though she had been in a war zone, her face covered in cuts, head wrapped in a bandage, a cast covering her leg and a black eye forming. Hardy feels his heart sink, especially after Tom and Chloe tell him how Daisy had landed herself in this state, and then it sinks further when her doctor informs them that her spine could potentially be compromised but they won't know until she wakes up. While she can breathe on her own, she still looks lifeless and unresponsive, even if the machines say otherwise.

After taking Tom and Chloe home, Ellie returned to the hospital with a bag of what looked to be spare clothes, "I thought you would rather be in something more comfortable than your work clothes."

"Thanks Miller," his voice is tired and sadder than unusual. Tess had fallen asleep in the chair on the other side of the bed.

"Have they said anything?"

"She's concussed badly and the alcohol isn't helping." He's close to breaking down in sobs. "She's my little girl Miller. I just-" His voice breaks and despite still being still a little angry at him, Ellie can't help but let him rest his head against her stomach as he sobs.

"She's going to be okay," she soothed stroking his hair.

After a few minutes he calms down and rubs his eyes, "How is Elton?"

"He woke up an hour ago but the doctor won't let me interview him until tomorrow."

"I'll be there."

"You don't need to."

"I want to. I should be here but I can't cope with looking at Daisy like that."

"She needs you here. I want no arguments over this. Got that?"

He doesn't reply. The next morning, Ellie speaks to Elton but he doesn't produce a picture of the suspect. The attacker got him from behind. She pops into Daisy's hospital room throughout the day, bringing food for Hardy and Tess. The second time Ellie comes, Hardy has fallen asleep, Daisy is still asleep but Tess is wide awake, reading.

"How is she?" Ellie asked quietly.

"They took her for another scan and there doesn't look too be much damage, they just have to check her spine wasn't damaged badly, though it doesn't appear to be fractured. Any progress on the case?"

"There is something bugging me about the last e-mail Barthon sent to Molly but I don't know what it is. We had to send the CCTV footage off to see if we can get a better resolution. We can see their face just not clearly. Should be back with us later."

"Okay that's good." Tess looks over to the other two occupants, still sleeping away. "This is all my fault."

"Hey, you didn't tell her to get drunk and fall fifteen feet."

"But this is all a reaction to me having an affair. The fact of the matter is that the affair ruined about five lives. Dave's ex-wife hates him and doesn't let him see his kids. He tries with Daisy but I knew she was never going to accept him from the minute he moved in. I thought give it time but he's not her dad at the end of the day. Or maybe it's just Dave because she has no problem with you." Ellie furrowed her brow. "Come on Ellie, the whole world can see that you and Alec are in love with each other."

Ellie looks down at her feet, "We're not together Tess."

"I know, but you should be. You're good for him, better than I was."

Ellie mulls this over for a few hours until she goes back to the hospital that evening. The third time she brings Tom and is surprised to find Daisy had woken up albeit she's groggy and a little monosyllabic.

Tess isn't there but Hardy seems a lot brighter now he knows Daisy is okay. Daisy gives Tom a weak and apologetic smile. Ellie takes Hardy to get a decent cup of tea in the cafeteria, giving the teenagers some space.

"Does it hurt?" Tom asked.

"I'm on a lot of pain killers so I don't know," she croaked. "I'm sorry I scared you like that. I just acted stupidly."

Tom shakes it off, "Doesn't matter, you're okay. Please don't do it again though."

"Don't worry, this is a good enough wake up call."

"Chloe told me to call you an idiot."

"Tell her thanks."

"She's coming tomorrow. She has to look after Lizzie."

"I'm really sorry about yesterday, I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I just needed the booze to block every thing out for a bit."

"Including your common sense. Still once you get out, do you want to play that stupid video game?"

"I'd like that. 

In the waiting room, Ellie and Hardy go over the case briefly before they get onto talking about the kids. They are sitting pretty close together, and while he has had some sleep, he still looks drained and exhausted.

"Have they said anything about her spine?" she asked.

"She's lucky that all she got was a broken leg and a head injury. All fingers and toes are moving okay. Did Tom see a therapist?"

"Yeah, he thought she was alright. He seems a lot better, like the weight has been lifted."

"That's good. He's a good lad. I should actually thank him for trying to get Daisy off the wall."

"They're going to be okay now."

He gives a small smile, "Yeah. After she woke up, we had a talk. I think she was just letting all the anger and frustration that she's been holding in. Told her she needed to find something better than getting drunk." Hardy let his hand lay on top of hers, "Ellie-"

"Don't." He looks a little hurt and confused. Ellie sighed, "I'm not mad at you because you rejected me, I'm mad because you were right. I mean you did hurt my feelings but I'm just confused."

"Confused about what?"

"I told you about the guy I had a one night stand with and I felt nothing. I kiss you and I don't know if it was the alcohol or I just had…"

"Had what?"

"Feelings for you."

Hardy blinked, "What?"

"I think I love you."

He paused, blinked, before asking, "Why?"

"Oh my God, you're an idiot." Ellie had put her face in her hands. "I just said that I think I'm in love with you and you ask why."

She can't see it but Hardy is grimacing, "It's just that I told you that you deserve someone better, thinking you weren't in love with me, and now you tell me you are in love with me and I am just confused."

"Why do you think I deserve better?"

"I already gave you the list, mostly it's the nightmares."

"What nightmares?"

He looks down, almost as though he is ashamed, "Since I found Pippa Gillespie's body in the river, I've been having nightmares of drowning and of Pippa's swollen face. More recently, Lisa, Danny and Casey have appeared. Occasionally, Daisy is in Pippa's place. They've eased since you solved Sandbrook but I do get them every now and again. You deserve better because you don't need me to be a burden."

She looks at him. He felt like he didn't deserve her because he wasn't the perfect husband that Joe had appeared to be. She wants to tell him that she doesn't need that illusion. Instead Ellie decided to bite the bullet, and pressed her lips to his. After about half a minute she pulled back, and she had to hold back a laugh at his befuddlement. Still, now she had kissed him while sober, she still felt the same.

After a few moments, he coughed, "I'll be back tomorrow at work."

"You don't have to."

"No, we need to solve this case. We almost have him." He bites the bullet this time, his hand cupping her face. His kiss is softer despite the stubble he had acquired over the last few weeks. He breathes once he let's go, "Do you want to go for dinner sometime?"

She smiles and gives him a tiny peck, "That would be lovely."

-o-

The next morning, Ellie looks over the data from Molly's phone, including the transcripts from Molly's phone and computer only to realise that there is something not quite right with the last e-mail. The time stamp was about five the morning of the eighteenth, but Christopher Barthon would not have been in the house and according to Brian when they searched the house, there were a bunch of passwords lying around. Someone must have broken in and sent the message. Another hint was that the style of writing didn't quite match to his other e-mails.

"Got it, it's the grammar," she declared. "Barthon puts you and me rather than me and you like the last e-mail does."

"Time of death was between three and five. The killer must have broken into his house and wrote the e-mail to lead us on," Brennan suggested.

"I'm going to look to see if any of the writing patterns match any other e-mail sent to Molly."

"Can I help? There is a load there."

"Sure." It takes them half an hour before they both hit something. "Who's the e-mail from?"

"It looks to be…"

In the meantime, Hardy had entered CID and immediately started pressing Leona for the CCTV. "Sir you don't have to be here today."

"Daisy is fine, Tess is with her. What do we have?"

"I think I might have shot of the killer's face on the CCTV, though I don't know how good the resolution will be." By lunchtime, Leona had gotten a screenshot of the killer's face. It's a decent resolution though she had to blink as though she could not believe her eyes. "It can't be," she whispered. "Sir, can you just confirm to me what I am seeing?"

He moved over and saw the screenshot. He has to do a double take, with and without his glasses, "She's our killer?"

"Who?" Ellie asked. Leona turned her screen to Ellie. "She's our killer?"

"Hammer in hand, hoody similar to what Tom described. She's our killer."

-o-

"A high-pressure system is called an anticyclone. Air falls in an anticyclone so no clouds are formed. In summer, high pressure usually results in clear skies, gentle breezes and fine weather. In winter high –" The teacher was interrupted by the head mistress knocking on the door.

"Sorry Mrs Li, is there any chance I can speak to Lilly Barnes?" Lilly looked confused as she got out of her seat. "Also I would take your stuff with you." The head leads Lilly to the main office where Hardy is waiting. He doesn't look angry nor does he look sympathetic. It frightens Lilly a little.

He shows her a picture. It's one of her in a black hoody, walking away from a slumped person on the floor. In a calm tone, Hardy tells Lilly, "I think we need to talk."


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right last chapter before the epilogue. Also smut alert. Nothing explicit but it's after the second break point if you wanted to avoid it.

Chapter Eight

The room is silent for a few moments after Lilly confesses to how she killed her own best friend. Hardy still can't believe the girl is only thirteen and a double murderer. Not that she was the youngest double murderer in Britain but still his mind couldn't quite understand how a girl who was barely older than Tom could do such crimes.

Beside him Ellie looks emotionless but he can tell she's forcing herself to hold back on the emotions in fear she will snap and hurt Lilly. She doesn't understand why Lilly would do it either, the conversation about circumstances that lead to a person committing murder not making any sense. Even the appropriate adult and the solicitor look uncomfortable at the situation they have been caught up in.

The girl sitting opposite them stares at them, almost as though the fact she had killed two people doesn't seem to remotely phase her. The girl in enveloped in the police-issue white paper suit and it's only then Ellie notes how small Lilly is. She is shorter than Chloe, who wasn't tall in the first place, and seems thinner than Daisy, who like her father didn't have anything on her. It seems impossible that she had the strength to do what she had done.

"I didn't want her to take the drugs but I was sick and tired of being her lap dog: keeping the whole sleeping with an older man thing, the drugs she made me get. We got into an argument when I came round to her house later that night. I don't know what happened. I just snapped and grabbed the hammer off the kitchen counter."

"What about Casey Channing? What made you want to kill her?" Ellie asked. Lilly shrugs.

"Lilly, I would not start giving us shrugs for answers," Hardy warns. "This isn't your parents asking why you haven't cleaned your bedroom; this is two detectives asking you about a murder you committed."

"She was the one who drove me out to the field. I said that I would report her for dealing. "

"So she deserved to be beaten to death with a hammer?"

"She was just a drug addict, and it isn't like anyone would care."

Ellie looks close to snapping at that moment, but keeps her cool, "So did you attempt to kill Elton Daynes because he was dating her?"

"No. I think he might have seen me come around the corner when he drove away from the Carlisles."

"And why did you break into Christopher Barthon house?"

"He was always creeping around Molly. Let's face it, he's got potential child murderer written all over him." Even Hardy had to admit it was a fair point but it wasn't Barthon he was talking to. "I swear I didn't mean to kill anyone."

"You might have unintentionally killed your best friend but you covered yourself up and you set out to kill the other two," Ellie explained trying to get the seriousness of this across.

"I just wanted her to listen to me."

Hardy feels the colour drain from his face and looks over to an equally pale Ellie. Hardy terminated the interview, and doesn't glance back at Lilly as he followed Ellie out. Another officer comes in to take Lilly to the cells. Hardy finds Ellie in the women's bathroom leaning against the sink to gather her bearings before she could inform the families.

"You do know the sign says ladies only right?" she asked, her voice slightly broken in an attempt to fight back the tears.

"You okay or do you need five minutes?"

"No. I'll be with you in a moment."

She takes a couple of deep breaths before going to her office to grab her car keys. Ellie notices how confused, almost quite sickened the rest of the team looks. Though they are trying to trudge through the evidence, statements and paperwork to present to the CPS. She has to trudge on as well.

Telling each family was the worst bit. Lilly's family were in outward denial that their daughter could have killed two people and almost killed another. Explaining that Lilly had confessed in the face of compelling evidence was enough to prove it.

The Carlisles are absolutely horrified. To everyone's surprise the one that loses it the most is Eva. She flips out and proclaims that she might kill Lilly herself but no one is certain if she intended it or not. They arrive at the Traders where Casey's mother was staying until Casey's body was released. Mrs Channing cried, mostly from relief and some sort of shock at the identity of the killer. She asked if she was able to contact the Carlisles. Hardy is rather apologetic to Elton when they inform him. He's also surprised at who his attacker was, even asking if they were absolutely certain. Both were certain but they didn't exactly like it.

-o-

With everyone needing to be told being told, they decided they needed some rest before they can complete the necessary paperwork to present to the CPS. Ellie arrived home, resting her back against the door before she can brave facing her boys. Fred immediately runs to her and he gives her the biggest hug in the world. She's happy getting this hug, using stroking her hand through his soft curls.

Tom looks at her with concern, "What's happened?"

"I wish I could tell you but I can't."

"It isn't Daisy is it?"

"No, she's fine. Just work. Have you eaten?"

He shakes his head and Ellie tried to force herself to make dinner, really just ending up with pasta with sauce. "Mum, I'm sorry I've been a bit arse with you about the therapy thing. The therapist is not that bad. It's just that I'm confused."

"About what?"

"I know that Dad is a terrible person, but he's still my dad."

"I get it. I didn't fall out of love with him the second I found out what he had done. It took months. I was married to him for twelve years, but I don't feel a thing for the man any more. I can never forgive him for what he did."

"I can't either. I don't resent you for driving him out of town."

"Good."

"So are you and DI Hardy together?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Are you?"

"It's complicated."

"But you love him?"

She sighed but she did promise herself she'd never lie to Tom, "Yeah."

"And he loves you?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you not together?"

"Would it bother you if Hardy and I got together?"

"Well, he is a bit of an arse but you've been with worse men. He might be alright once I get to know him."

She smiled a little though slightly laments the fact that her little boy is growing up too quickly and speaking words of wisdom. Though she should think herself lucky that the counselling is working. As she eats and washes up, she thinks back over the last few week before she realises that life is too short. Casey was going to get herself off the drugs, she planned a life after prison. Her life was cut short before she could even do anything. She's somewhat reminded herself of the conversation with Claire about being in love with her boss a lifetime ago.

_"It's just what happens, isn't it? Life sweeps by and before you know what's going on, it's too late."_

Ellie had made a decision. She wasn't letting life sweeping past her this time.

-o-

Lucy and Olly arrive to keep an eye on the boys, while Ellie goes to Hardy's. He is alone when she arrives, "I'm not here because of the case. I just wanted to see if you were alright."

"I'm okay. Just still can't believe the killer was right in front of us."

"Well, I wasn't sleeping next to the killer this time so that might be some sort of improvement," she tried to find the humour in it but it wasn't a laughing matter.

"Surprised you can joke about it."

"Pretty shit attempt at a joke. It hurts less the more I say it nowadays though. Maybe it's because I've stopped loving the illusion he gave me. I need something more genuine."

"Like what?"

"Like a man who will keep fighting to bring justice to the families and victims. Someone who loves his daughter so much he'll put his own career in jeopardy. A man who... who loves me despite all the emotional baggage. Because you are the only one who understands how I feel, and stood by my side when everyone turned their back on me. That is why I bloody love you. And I want to be with you. I don't care if you think I deserve better. I don't need you to be the perfect husband because that is not what I love about you."

He leaned back against the other side of the kitchen wall, while Ellie waits for a response. After what feels like a million years, he strides over, lifts her onto the table, and kisses her. She moans deeply, the sodding orange jacket is gone, and he touches her waist as their tongues sweep together. She almost jumped when she felt him against her thigh.

Her fingers scrabble with the shirt buttons until his shoulders and torso is exposed. Hardy frantically went for her shirt buttons and tossed the clothing by his shirt on the floor. His lips caress the skin of her neck, and the slight stubble that had grown in the weeks since the case began felt so good against her neck. His fingers are working on the bra clasp and soon he has the material off. She tries to hold back a giggle at the thought of them being half naked in his kitchen but soon moans when he feels his hand cup her bare breast and roll the peak between his fingers.

She leans back a little so he can work on her trousers, him peeling them off, trying to tease her a little until he is kneeling with his face between her thighs. His eyes looked to hers for permission. She nodded and he pulled the crotch of the knickers aside. The man had a skilled tongue to say the least, combined with the roughness of his stubble on her thighs, and it wasn't long until she cried out, gasping his name, his first name, her hand tugging in his hair.

Allowing her to recuperate for a moment, kissing her thighs then her stomach, her breasts, her neck and then her lips. She barely noticed him remove the last garment she was clothed in and put her jacket under her as a cushion. He disappears for a moment, more than likely to the bathroom, and returned with a foil package. Christ they were actually going to do it.

Considering how boneless she still felt, he removed his trousers and boxers himself. He was more than ready for her, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nods, her eyes drifting over his naked form. Once he sheeted himself, Ellie reached down to guide him to her and in one slow thrust they joined. She had her arms around his neck, one leg hooked around his hip, his hands resting on her hips as his own slowly move against hers. They moan quietly at first, and he can't quite take his eyes of her, looking at her eyes, consumed with love. His eyes look no different.

"I love you," he whispered, using one hand to brush some strands of damp curls from her forehead. His words sink into her. Even though she really shouldn't, Ellie couldn't help but compare this to the bloke in the bar. The guy just did his end of the deal, insert A into B and finish. No real consideration for Ellie. Hardy is a surprisingly hands-on, passionate and considerate lover and it makes Ellie wonder why Tess even strayed in the first place.

Hardy has to wonder if this is a dream. He can feel her beneath his hands, the sensations going through his body as they move and hear her small moans when he thrusts into her. Even in dreams, there was always a bit at the end when she fades away. However, she's here, in love with him, him in love with her and nothing could wreck this moment.

His thrusts quicken a bit and her head falls back allowing him to kiss and suck her neck. The hand that swept her hair was lowered to where they were joined and she jumped a little at the pressure his finger was giving. His thrusts were coming in fast and they could both feel the tension in their stomachs waiting to snap. He leaned in to kiss her, sloppy and uncoordinated before whispering into her ear, "Come for me."

With a small cry, she does and buries her head in his shoulder. He isn't done but she can tell he's close, and decides to test to see if he can last, "Follow me."

He does, and he lets out a groan, the thrust of his hips slowing until he stops entirely, his head resting on her collarbone. His stubble feels heavenly against her chest, his breath against her skin and he pressed his lips against her collarbone.

"As much as I would like to stay here, we need to move somewhere more comfortable, don't you think?" she whispered after a moment, her hand resting on the back of his head. They wait until their breaths have evened out, quickly clean up, and collapse in the bed, legs intertwined and Hardy pulled the covers over them. His thumb strokes her shoulder in a soothing motion and he lays a kiss on her damp forehead.

"That's new," she says quietly resting her hand on his cheek. "Not bad though."

"Is that all I get for that: not bad?"

She giggled, "Still could do with some practice but sex is like riding a bike. Once you know how you'll never forget."

He leaned into to kiss her and smiled, "I love you Ellie."

"I love you too." She rested her forehead against his, her hand resting on his ribs. "When did you know?"

"The arrest. Bad time I know but it had nothing to do with sex, just wanting to protect you," he answered. She looks down to the scar on his chest. "I wanted to tell you before had the surgery but I thought you didn't feel the same. No hug remember. You wouldn't even let me give you a reassuring touch on the shoulder."

Ellie cringes. She remembered that Hardy did everything for her except roll on his back and ask her to rub his stomach. He just wanted to know that he was there and she just kept shoving him off, "I shouldn't have pushed you away like that."

"I understand why so don't think you hurt my feelings. I just didn't want to drop this on you while you just had to suffer through the trial."

"Well I bet Sharon Bishop is laughing now. I know that sounds terrible but I didn't realise it until a few nights ago. I am sorry. I was just …"

"Scared?"

"I guess, but I'm not anymore. That kiss in the waiting room sealed the deal for me."

He smiles, cups her face and kisses her, "That is good enough for me."

-o-

The next morning, they wake up spooned together, and morning breath be damned he kisses her. They shower separately and he makes breakfast for her and they leave with a kiss. Ellie goes home to change – Tom shook his head when she came in while Lucy looked rather amused - and then to work, while Hardy goes to the hospital.

Daisy is wide awake, bright and beaming when he arrives. Chloe is there so Daisy's mood has improved a little. Company of friends and all.

"I suppose I have to go or else the teachers will have my neck," Chloe said getting up.

"I'll see you around then," Daisy replied.

"You look happy," Hardy commented.

"Doctor said I can go home this afternoon."

"Aw that's great. Have you told your mum?"

"No. She said she'd be down later."

Daisy smiles and pulls him in for a hug, though her eyes squinted in suspicion when she noticed a small blue bruise on his neck, "Who did you sleep with last night?"

"Huh?"

"You have a love bite on your neck."

" _Damn you Miller_ ," he thought. The woman must have woken up during the night, noticed he had left a mark on her neck and must have taken revenge while he was sleeping. He groaned out-loud, "I suppose I'd better tell you."

"Was is Ellie?" she asked but didn't seem too bothered by the whole thing. Then again, she actually liked Ellie.

"Yeah."

"Oh thank goodness, I thought I was going to have to put you two in a small room."

"Are you really okay with this?"

"110%. She's good for you Dad, and you both deserve happiness. Though I should tell you something. I want to stay here, in Broadchurch."

"Daisy-"

"I can't live with Mum and Dave any more. It makes me sick every time I see them together, knowing what they did, how they don't care that they hurt you in the process."

"It's not as simple as that Darlin'."

"I'm sixteen years old. I can make a choice now."

"Have you spoken to her about it?"

"Not yet."

"You know she's not going to take this lightly."

"I don't care if she blames it on the head injury, I am staying put."

That was probably easier said than done given that both women were as stubborn as each other. Still Hardy was only going to get himself involved if it got really ugly.

-o-

"Um, Ma'am. I don't mean to pry but you have a bruise on your neck," Brennan informed as he walked into Ellie's office.

Ellie touched her neck, having almost forgotten about the love bite Hardy had given her the previous evening. "Did - Did you get your end of the paperwork done?"

"Yep, all the witness statements I took are all good. So was it Hardy?"

"Was it Hardy that done what?"

"The love bite on your neck."

"That is not your business."

"So is he a good shag?" At that point Ellie pointed to the door. He left, but while slightly annoyed, she couldn't help but smile when she saw money being exchanged between Leona and Brennan.

To answer his question, though Ellie would never vocalise it to her subordinates, Hardy was an excellent shag and the images rolled around in her head but she had to finish piecing all the paperwork and evidence together if the CPS were to charge Lilly with double murder and attempted murder.

There is more than enough, and with everyone's paperwork done, she and Hardy present the case to the CPS the next morning. They agree to charge Lilly.

Outside the station, Hardy couldn't look prouder than when he saw Ellie realise a statement to the press.

"This morning, Wessex police and CPS have charged a thirteen year old woman with the murders of Molly Carlisle and Casey Channing, as well as attempted murder of Elton Daynes. The families have been informed and wish that the press respect their privacy while they grieve for their loved ones."

The press try to barrage her with questions - confused about the age of the killer - but she leaves quickly. While they had a lot to do if Lilly was going to be convicted, it felt like a massive weight had been lifted.

-o-

Casey's funeral happens first back in London. To Ms Channing's surprise it isn't only her coming to bury her daughter. The officers on the case, Daisy, Tom, a number of people from the Chiswick area and the Carlisles are all in attendance. Even if they were of two separate words, the Carlisles and Ms Channing could come together in memory of their daughters. She attended Molly's funeral just a few days later. Like Danny Latimer's the whole town is there. Clearly everyone is reeling from the revelation of who the killer was.

Hardy held Ellie's hand during both services. Tess looked at them, somewhat mildly jealous. Then she remembered she relinquished her right to him the moment she jumped into bed with Dave.

It's only the next afternoon when Daisy refused to get in the car to go back home that she lost her temper. Daisy was not exactly silent on the subject either. She was putting her (unbroken) foot down on this.

"Daisy I am your mother and you do as I say."

"I'm sixteen, you have no real custodial right over me anymore and I am staying with Dad."

"You are going back to Sandbrook."

"Look. Let's calm down," Hardy said trying to diffuse the situation but to no avail.

"You have your bloody A-Levels to do."

"For fucks sake Mum it's not as if Broadchurch is the third world. There is actually a school here. Besides do you really want to go back home knowing you are just going to live in a warzone for the next two years?"

"She does have a point Tess," Hardy said. "Both of you are going to be happy and she'll resent you for it. Trust me when I say it isn't fun to have your own child resent you."

After about a minute thinking it over, Tess sighed, "Fine. You can stay. Only on the condition that the second you start pulling the same stunts –"

"I won't Mum."

"And you certain this is what you want?"

"One-hundred percent."

"Well, you are coming down this weekend to get your things."

Tess leaves eventually and Hardy wrapped his arm around her shoulder, "You think you made the right decision?"

"I think so."

They drive to the Miller house where chips were unwrapped from the paper bags. Daisy immediately sits down to eat while Hardy went to grab a drink from the fridge. Only Ellie cornered him before he could get to his chair.

"You sure you are going to be able to handle all this teenage girl stuff?" she asked.

"With you by my side Ellie, I could conquer the world." She smiled and pulled him in for a kiss.

"Oi, some of us are trying to eat here," Tom groaned.


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue

_12 Months Later_

Hardy sometimes can't believe his eyes when he wakes up next to Ellie every morning. Every morning now they had found a new house to fit their joined family. Hardy often would play with her hair, often making sure that it wasn't a dream. He did that the morning of the verdict - not that they knew the verdict had been reached - her head on her chest, his fingers stroking her hair. Watching her sleeping form, her face filled with peace, he felt his heart spill out of his chest.

She woke up after about fifteen minutes, blinking bleary at him and whispered, "Morning."

"Morning," he replied placing a kiss on top of her head. "You feeling confident we'll get a verdict today?"

"Hopefully."

Ellie mulls over the last month and a half with the Crown vs Barnes Trial.

Lilly plea hearing went as well as could be expected. She pleads not guilty. The defence lawyer, William Crawford, is cocky but not particularly experienced. He had pretty much given Lilly the worst advice in order to find faults in the investigation. Jocelyn Knight's eye sight had deteriorated so much that she is unable to take the case on. She does suggest a number of good lawyers, even suggesting to Margret Eastford, the Carlisle family and Ms Channing's eventual choice, that her junior should be Ben Haywood.

Two weeks later, Mrs Carlisle is on the stand, giving evidence as is Mr Carlisle, Cal and Eva. The defence goads them, suggesting there was abuse though the jury doesn't seem to buy it. Olly and Maggie find themselves rolling their eyes at the suggestions. Ms Channing does buckle under the pressure but resorts that being a drug dealer is not justifiable for her daughter being killed.

Hardy, Ellie, Tess, Brennan and Leona along with Brian and Jane Lincoln took the stand over a period of a week and a half. The defence turns the blame on Christopher Barthon, who no one had sympathy for anyway but his girlfriend – in spite of all bitterness and betrayal – tells the court that he was at a wedding in London and had not come back to Broadchurch until seven that morning, which the various guests had confirmed. The defence has nothing.

The most difficult for Ellie, Tess and Hardy was watching the defence go at Daisy and Tom but even the defence have nothing that calls their witness statements into question. They are both honest about what they saw that night. Parents could not be prouder.

Elton – the poor guy – was subjected to the worst treatment by the defence, which made Hardy feel rather guilty as it was similar to his interrogation: suggesting that Elton was angry that Molly had gotten impregnated by another man. They even take advantage of the CCTV evidence of Lilly attacking Elton by suggesting that she had worked out what he had done to her sister though it doesn't justify her attack on him.

Lilly eventually put forward her defence, trying to put the blame on Elton though the prosecution puts holes in this implication. It doesn't help she already had her confession on tape making the whole trial redundant in the first place.

Final statements come before the jury goes to deliberate. The prosecution laid down the fact that Lilly might have not have intended to kill Molly but was calculated move her body and then kill another girl and then attack another person because they could have revealed her. The defence continues to point the finger at Elton. It's really all they have and Ben Haywood cannot help but feel somewhat smug about the defence's amateur dramatics in court.

The jury only went in yesterday lunchtime. It wasn't an easy night's sleep but they hope that the jury make a unanimous decision by lunchtime today.

"She has to go down, evidence is too set against her," he whispered.

"I don't think the defence has put any reasonable doubt in the jury's mind. I hope. I think half of them were rolling their eyes."

"I hope too," he whispered. He pushed a strand of hair out of her face, and kissed her.

-o-

Despite the words they said in the early hours that morning, they couldn't help but be nervous. It's not until lunch that the prosecution tell them that a verdict had been reached. They enter the courtroom, Lilly looking as nervous as everyone in the room. Hardy does feel a pinch of sympathy. He can sense that Lilly was remorseful enough to have wanted to plead guilty but her dipshit lawyer had gone and messed up any chance of making her look remorseful. She's only fourteen and she's gone and ruined her life. To Ellie, Lilly is smaller, to the point where she almost looks skeletal and a shadow of the girl she was. Ellie glances over to the Barnes family for a moment, who look at their own daughter as if she is a complete stranger.

"Will the defendant stand," the judge says to Lilly. Everyone's pulse is racing the minute the first question is asked to the foreman.

"Have you reached a verdict to which you are all agreed?"

"Yes."

"Is it a unanimous verdict or a majority?"

"Unanimous."

"On the charge of the attempted murder of Elton Daynes, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty."

While there is some relief, this was the smallest of the three charges and they still have the two murder charges to go.

"On the charge of the murder of Casey Channing, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty."

Hardy looks over to the defence lawyer, his resolve finally crumbled despite the final verdict not being set in stone. Lilly seems to have accepted her fate. Ellie grips his hand tightly. Tom has her other hand, the other taking Daisy's as the final verdict is read. Leona squeezes her eyes shut. Brennan, despite not being remotely religious, looks to be praying.

"On the charge of the murder of Molly Carlisle, do you find the defendant guilty or not guilty?"

"Guilty."

The breath everyone in court had been holding is released in relief. While they have justice, the Carlisles now have to deal with the fact the person who killed their daughter was her own best friend and even a year later it doesn't get easier.

Ellie has not let go of Hardy's hand even as they leave the building.

-o-

Later that day, Ellie felt eternally grateful for the family she now had, watching Hardy asleep with Fred asleep on top - despite not being that light any more at three and a half. Daisy and Tom are laughing as they attempted to finish a level on a game before Tess takes Daisy to Sandbrook for the half term. Daisy felt quite bad soon after her confrontation but she's happier in Broadchurch at the end of the day. Tom had a couple more sessions with the counsellor and had benefited from it greatly, almost back to the way he was before Danny's murder, albeit with the added teenage snark.

The doorbell rings, waking Hardy and Fred. Fred is a little grumpy about this. Hardy just looks so confused.

"Daisy I think that is your mother," Ellie announced trying to hold back a laugh.

"Cool, I'll just grab my stuff."

Hardy got up, Fred still in his arms, "I'll deal with Tess."

"You sure?"

"I'm up now." He walks to the door, and greets Tess fairly pleasantly. "She'll be down in a second."

"Hey Mum," Daisy said coming back down the stairs, rucksack in hand. "You going to be okay with me gone for a week?"

"I'll survive. Besides, might get some peace and quiet." Daisy lightly swatted him in the arm, but accepted the one armed hug. "See you next week Darlin'.

"Bye Dad. Bye Freddy." After saying goodbye to Ellie and Tom, Daisy left the house and it suddenly felt weird without her.

"You okay?" Ellie asked slipping her arm around his waist.

"Of course I am. I'm in the right place. I'm home."

"Home," Fred repeated, only it sounded a little like "oam".

Ellie grinned widely and pulled Hardy in for a kiss.

Fred didn't protest; he was used to his parents kissing. He didn't know it any other way.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:
> 
> Cute ending because cute ending. 
> 
> This took a lot of planning and changes to the plan, and adding once the basic story was written, then making last minute changes and watching so many crime documentaries for research purposes so thanks to those who supported me through my efforts by means of views, reviews, follows, favourites (on FF) and kudos (on AO3). 
> 
> You know, I would leave it here but I feel like there are some gaps to fill, and maybe not all stories are over. In other words, there is a filler story of domestic bits and then a proper sequel. 
> 
> Again, thank you.


End file.
